Savage Secrets (Titan #6) (9 page)

“Everything okay in here?” A voice called from the front of the bar. The open top of the piano most likely blocked them from view. “Mrs. de Campoamor?”

The voice stepped closer, walking in and maybe investigating the crash of music. Rocco palmed the 9mm tucked in the side of his pants. Their interruption wasn’t the man from earlier but some other guy about to get a mindful of “get the hell out.”

CHAPTER NINE

The charged air hung over them. Rocco pulled back, his eyes locked on Cat’s wild ones. Her lips were pinker, fuller, a testament to the last five minutes. Despite the disruption, his erection strained for escape. The khakis dug into him and weren’t doing any favors hiding his arousal.

Caterina should move. He should unwrap himself from her sweet body. Give her some space, but she was a sexpot. Her eyes blazed. She hadn’t relaxed her thighs, and he was just realizing she had a fist of his shirt pulled between them, holding him to her.

Rocco saw movement by the bar. It was dark and the operative in him wanted to shoot first and question later. But why shoot the poor bartender? Nothing but a headache to deal with later. Still, he never trusted face value and unholstered his gun.

“Mrs. de Campoamor?”

“She’s fine.” The approaching footsteps stopped. He leaned forward. “Tell him you’re fine.”

“I’m fine.” Her voice was saturated in arousal. Strained and hoarse.

“Okay.” Whoever was standing by didn’t sound convinced. “If you—”

“Out. The lady’s fine.” Rocco was unable and unwilling to move from the embrace of her thighs. Jump starting their kiss against the piano was his top priority. The footsteps turned and walked away, and the man muttered for them to take it to their room.
Gladly
.

With his gun secured in its holster again, he bent over, brushing his lips on the softest skin he’d ever kissed, making his way up her neck and teasing her earlobe with a lick. “Upstairs?”

“Upstairs.”

He pulled her against him. “Not every day I get to take my pseudo-wife to bed for the first time. All long legs and long hair. Freakin’ dream come true kind of beauty.”

A blush highlighted her cheeks. She looked away, and he caught her chin in his hand. “I’m serious, Cat. I’ve never met someone who works me up the way you do.”

“It’s the accent.”

“It’s everything.”

“Not every day my tatted up, muscled up pseudo-husband wants to take me to our hotel room.”

“Oh, I’ve—” Wait, what? “Tats?”

Her bottom lip dropped. “You seem like the type.”

“To have a couple of tattoos?”

“I assume you have tattoos. All you military, black ops boys do.”

“I need a second.” He shook his head, feeling as if he were missing a connection. Had she checked on him? It’d be easy enough to find out his distinguishing marks, if nothing else, to assure the man who showed up at her door was who he said he was. But why lie? Why pretend she didn’t know his name or what he looked like?

He took a step back, knocking into the piano bench. He looked at the piano keys. The song she’d just played tickled a memory. But what? “I need some air.”

“Rocco. Wait.”

He was already walking toward the door, pissed, paranoid, and pretty sure she’d been checking up on him but not fessing to it. What was the point in lying?

“Don’t be like that,” she called after him.

He turned, eyeing her suspiciously. “I don’t care that you checked up on me.”

Her bottom lip dropped. “You don’t?”

“But why lie about it? Why the whole ‘I don’t know your name’ bullshit?”

“Oh.” She ran her hands into her hair, pulling it off her shoulders. Shaking her head, she dropped it back, stared at the ceiling. “Checking up on you before you arrived—got it.”

His eyes narrowed. That paranoid, everyone-was-stomping-on-his-parade feeling choked in his chest. “When else would you have—you know, it doesn’t matter.”

God, he was shaky. And wired. And losing his damn mind.

She cut a glare at him that clean sliced through him. “Why are you so freaked out?”

Good question. “It’s a trust thing. Doesn’t matter though.”

“Trust. Ha.” She threw her head back. “And you’ve laid all your cards on the table? You’re pissed because you think I checked up on you, and what? Didn’t tell you? Waste of my time.”

A professional intelligence gatherer had her hands on him, and she was too hot for him to say no. “You’ve worked me over since I met you. Hell, Cat, at least own up to it.”

She smirked at him. “Says the guy who ran off on me today and won’t tell me why.”

“It’s need to know. And you don’t.” No one did. “End of discussion.”

Hurt flinched across her face.
Piece of shit, dude. You’re a POS
. “Fuck.” Rocco scrubbed a hand over his forehead and into his hair. “Cat.”

The Spanish tirade started. She took a step forward, another and another until a finger poked him in the chest, and her mouth was moving a mile a minute.

“I have no idea what you’re saying.”

She kept going. Probably calling him every name she could think of.

“Cat.”

The tip of her finger poked his chest over and over. Damn, she had a point. How could he expect her to be totally honest with him when he was hiding a huge secret?

“Kitten.”

That just made her angrier. Her words gained speed, volume, and fury.

“Oh for Christ sakes. Ay carrumba, chimichanga. I have no idea what you’re saying, but shut your pretty pie hole.”

Her mouth froze, mid-foreign curse. She blinked and closed her mouth, almost delicately, which was funny, given the tizzy she’d been in. “
Chimichanga
?”

Yeah, no shit. Chimichanga? He was one bullet short of a full clip tonight. “Got your attention, didn’t I?”

“Pie hole?” Her voice teased

“
Pretty
. Pretty pie hole.”

Caterina covered her mouth, failing to hide a grin. She turned away and looked back without turning her head, trying to not laugh and failing. “You’re a piece of work.”

He shrugged, just to make her smile again. “Better than a piece of shit, I guess.”

“Ah, you’re a funny guy, Rocco Savage.”

“Shhh. Daniel Locke.” He stepped closer, mimicking her earlier in the hotel room. “First kiss. First fight—” His phone rang, and she smacked his chest. Not many had his number, so he grabbed it, checking the screen. “Saved by Boss Man.”

CHAPTER TEN

Rocco and Caterina walked out of the bar as Rocco answered the call.

Jared spoke before Rocco even said hello. “Parker pulled a miracle out of his ass. Might as well start looking for the British equivalent of Cuban cigars because you’re gonna owe him. Big.”

Well, hello, good news. About time you showed up.
“El Mateperros is ready to meet us?”

Caterina’s brows raised, and she mouthed, “
really
?”

Jared grumbled. “Bigger.”

Rocco shook his head at her. What was bigger than that? Supplies were, and more supplies made him a happy operative. “Sugar filled my shopping list of guns and ammo, and I can pick up my goods in the morning.”

Caterina rolled her eyes as they boarded the elevator.

What was that about
?

Jared continued, “Almost, but not why I’m calling. But you should know the girls talked. Not sure how that turned out. You know Sugar. No telling how Caterina took her.”

Maybe that’s where the tattoo tidbit came from? What would Sugar have said? Something about his ex? Sugar was hit and miss in the nicety department. Maybe that was Cat’s problem? Girls liked to chat. So she got busted gossiping? That was the issue?

Rocco looked at Cat. Her arms were crossed, and a textbook
mildly annoyed
was painted across her face. Yeah, he might have to dig into the Sugar-Caterina connection. They arrived on their floor, but he hung back in the hall because when he walked into their hotel room, he didn’t want Jared on his mind, but rather Cat in his arms.

“All right, all ready, Boss Man. What’s the deal?”

“We’ve got a solid lead as to where El Mateperros’s has a residence. Country estate, not too far outside London.”

“You’re shitting me.”

Jared chuckled. “Dead serious.”

Caterina tapped Rocco’s shin with her foot. “What?”

He covered the phone. “Got a surprise for you.”

Her face lit up. If he could get that smile on her face at least once a day, he’d give himself a grade A in the temporary hubby department even after today’s failures.

He turned his attention back to Jared. “Send me what you got. We’ll handle it and get back to you.”

“Roger that.” The call ended.

Rocco pocketed his phone. “Good news.”

“Tell me.”

“Better—I’ll show you. Let’s get in our room.” He threaded his fingers with hers. “Besides, it’s a surprise.”

She bumped her shoulder into his and smacked his chest. “Surprise me now.”

“I don’t know. You did say some awful things to me a few minutes ago.”

“Stop it! You have no idea what I said. Besides, you were bagging out on me. I should still be mad.”

“Can’t stay mad at a face like this.” He smiled and watched her focus on his dimple. For all the attention it’d gotten him over the years, it was the first time he cared.

She squeezed his hand, dragging him toward the room. “Come on, tell me.”

He scrolled through new messages and handed her his phone. “Feast your eyes on this.”

She stared, stopping in the hallway. A little line furrowed above the bridge of her nose. Looking up, back to the screen and then up again, she titled her head. “Is this what I think it might be?”

He nodded, taking the phone back. “I’m your favorite person. Ever.”

The screen was dark green with the outline of a house, a few cars, and a narrow road. There were three light colored blips inside the house.

“You got me thermal images? We know where El Mateperros is?
Ay Dios mio
.” Her smile was megawatt. That must’ve been her kind of present. “How? Never mind! Not important.”

She bounced down the hallway. Amused, he followed. Her mind must’ve been racing. Her mouth sure was going back and forth between English and Spanish. Seconds later, they were in the room, excited to the max, and sex had nothing to do with it.

“I’m not as crazy as I look.” She reached for his phone again.

“You might be. But I kinda dig it.” Yeah, he was kinda digging her like she was kinda obsessed with El Mateperros. The more he thought about her, the more he wanted her. Any plan to keep away for the sake of the job was quickly becoming pathetic. He tossed her the cell. “Guess that makes me nuts too. Want to go stake the fucker out or plan our next move?”

Catching the phone, she held it against her chest, angling her head so that her eyes did that look-through-the-lashes thing that he was quickly realizing was one of his weaknesses.

“You dig crazy?” she asked, a little too quiet, a little dead-ass sober.

“I dig you.” He let the words hang. She didn’t move.

Everything tensed. The room slowed. He might always remember that look in her eyes, but he couldn’t define why.

Rocco cleared his throat. “So let’s follow up on the fucker.”

“I’ve never been this close before.” She sucked in her bottom lip. “Love this. Really. This is just… amazing.”

Breaking through their heaviness, Caterina jumped forward, locking her arms around him, hugging tight. “Thank you.”

The physical impact of her hug shocked the hell out of him. Fevered awareness shot from his toes into his hair. Everywhere in between burned red hot—just because she touched him. He breathed in her spiciness, mouth watering. He closed his hold around her, hugging her back. Keeping her tight against him.

Not thinking, only feeling her curves, he blinked and found he had her against the wall. Pinned. Blood rushing to his cock, he pushed against her flat stomach. His mouth slanted over hers, then journeyed to her jaw, her ear. Kissing her neck. Sliding his tongue down her collarbone. The insane taste of her skin and the intoxicating smell of her hair consumed him. Pushed him to the brink of coming undone. Just couldn’t think straight.

“Caterina, sweetheart. I need you.” He throbbed, pulsing in place and dying to be inside her. Carnal need, raw and unabated, pulsed through him.

She nodded, breaths hitching. “Yes.”

There was the job, then there was her. And the job was supposed to come first. Always. But with Caterina, it didn’t.

“Thank God you said that.” His hands ran over her, everywhere. Groping, feeling, caressing, owning. Fingers memorized her feel. The touch revved his senses. Tension fueled his lust, which was stronger than he’d ever experienced. More powerful and potent. It was a hunger. He wanted her. Thought about her. Avoided her. Fell to her. And now he was drowning in her. Caterina was his vulnerability, his thirst. One look. One shot. One taste. He was done.