Tijuana Nights (The Nights Series Book 1) (18 page)

"We'll find him," Gabe chipped in.

I was pretty sure after hearing all sorts of shit about the man that I didn't want to have anything to do with finding him. "Do I have to tag along or can I have some assassination time out?"

"You'll be with me or Gabe. River's going to keep tracking him. Slippery little prick," he muttered. "Okay. Plan of action. River - work with Gabe to see if you can find any electronic trace of him. La chica—" He pointed his thumb in my direction. "—and I will take the remaining two cars and destroy them. And in the process, we'll acquire two more."

Chica? Are you kidding me? I threw him a dirty look.

"Don't look at me like that." He smiled. "Go get changed and wigged up. We're outta here as soon as you're ready."

"Wear the red one." Gabe chuckled.

I rolled my eyes. It sounded like I didn't have a choice in the matter.

"Hang on one moment," River interrupted as I started to stand. "You also need to set up a dancing date with Alvarez."

"Shit," I muttered. I had completely forgotten about that. "I can't dance, River. You know that even better than the rest of the Mexican community who saw me on the dance floor."

"I don't care. Make the date, and in the meantime Chase can teach you the basics."

My eyes flicked to Chase who was watching me intently. My stomach flipped, and I felt short of air just thinking about it. "Okay," I said in a small voice.

River passed me his phone. "Here. Use it." He looked at Gabe. "Number?"

Gabe reeled off a string of numbers, and I dialled them.

Two rings later, and Alvarez answered. "Alvarez? This is Ciara Merle. From the other night?"

"So finally you ring me. I have been waiting patiently beside the phone this whole time." He chuckled. He was teasing me, and yet I still panicked.

I forced a laugh to my lips. "Sorry. Got caught up with… family stuff. Listen - about those dancing lessons... are you free sometime tomorrow?"

I could feel three sets of eyes on me as I talked, so I turned away with embarrassment. There was no way I could concentrate while they all stared at me.

"Tomorrow? Sure. What time is good for you? I can probably clear my diary to fit around you."

Gack. I cringed and refrained from sighing. This would have been easier if he'd just named a time and a place. "How about four?" I suggested.

"Perfect, and then we'll do dinner afterward," Alvarez agreed. "Have you got transport? If not, I'm happy to come and pick you up?"

"No no," I said quickly. "I have a car. Where should we meet?" This whole conversation was just plain bloody awkward. It would have been a complete disaster if I was actually attracted to him.

"My place," he said. He gave me his address, and I hung up the phone. "I need a fag," I muttered as I threw River his phone. I looked pointedly at Chase. "Then I'll go and get ready."

Great, I thought as I lit up, now I had a date with a dude who would kill me for breakfast if he actually knew who I was.

* * *

An hour later we were browsing through the car lots. We had abandoned the cars in town, unlocked, with the keys left in them. It felt like a total waste in my opinion, but Chase had said that whoever looked closely at River's plates would be able to trace them back to the original dealership, and see that two other cars were bought that same day.

I guessed that he was being extra cautious. And then he clarified that if the Ute driver had managed to get the plate of the car I was driving, and tell anyone about it, then it was a foregone conclusion that they would check that as well... and sooner or later they would be tracked back to us and on someone’s watch list.

That was a point I couldn't argue with.

I ran my hand over the gun-metal grey paint of a particularly nice Mustang. It was an American muscle car that I would love to drive one day... would be even better if I could drive one in the States. I would feel like a character in Thelma and Louise, only I would never be as careless as to drive it over a cliff.

"You've got good taste in cars," Chase commented as he walked up beside me. "I used to own one of these."

I hated to ask but I had to. "What happened to it?"

Chase shrugged. "Gave it away."

I shook my head. "So no throwing it over a cliff or anything, then?"

He looked at me blankly. "Not lately," he responded. He turned around. "Come on," he called over his shoulder. "We got a couple of cars to drive home."

We weaved in amongst the cars in the dealership, and eventually reached a man holding some paperwork in a file, and keys in the other hand.

He didn't look happy with Chase. Or maybe he didn't look happy with me. He was a short stocky man, with a bushy moustache. It made it hard to tell if he was smiling or not, especially since he was wearing reflective sunglasses.

Chase spoke a few words in Spanish to him, and he replied with something to do with him being a gringo. I studied him hard.

I don't think he liked selling these cars to Chase, but he eventually handed over the keys and the paperwork. Chase handed me one set, and pointed to the far end of the yard. "Just beep the central locking, and you'll eventually come across it."

"Righto," I muttered. Wasn't the first time I'd had to do something like that.

I made my way in the general direction Chase pointed me, clicking the little remote as I went. And then I saw it.

It was a Dodge. A nice, sleek, dark grey one. As I got closer, I saw that it was the Charger model.

I sighed, and smiled. I was going to get to drive good old American muscle... just not in America.

Chase jogged up to me, and handed me a memory stick that he'd pulled from the car that we'd just ditched. "Music... just for you." He smiled at me, and then over at the car. "You like?"

I nodded, grinning. "Definitely."

"Good. Be careful on your way home. I'll follow you. Oh." He turned around and smiled at me. "This one has more horsepower than my last car, so be careful."

I opened up the car door. "It's not about the horsepower," I said suavely as I lowered myself into the seat. "It’s how you drive it."

Gabe and River had gone out to try and retrieve the cameras from Nicandro's apartment before any more of them were found. River had been muttering about shooting anyone if they were there to enable easy retrieval. Sounded anything but easy to me... and here Chase and I were again, alone in the house. He stood just across from me, with his hands on his hips.

"You need to step towards me, Mack. I can't teach you how to dance if we’re four feet apart."

I pursed my lips and edged closer to him. This was going to be embarrassing. It was bad enough having River know how awful I was at dancing, let alone now having to show Chase.

His eyes pierced mine as I moved closer. "That's better," he said gruffly, closing the distance between us. He’d made me change into a dress for our dancing lessons. When I had protested, he cut me off saying that it was better I learnt to dance in proper attire than in my gym gear.

"Now, put your left hand on my shoulder," he instructed, "and your right hand in mine."

I did as I was told, willing myself to calm down as he held me close to him.

He smiled. "Okay, now that you're in position, it's important to remember to keep your back straight. Keep your head held high, and put your shoulders back."

I smirked. "You want me to put my chest out, right?"

He laughed. "Yes, if that's how you want to put it."

"But you're not that crass?"

"No. Now, don't ever look down at your feet. That's a sign of someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Even if you screw it up, you just realign yourself with the music and your partner, and fall back into step - okay?"

I nodded.

He gave me a shake. "Relax, Mack, this is supposed to be fun. Stop being so rigid."

I bit my lip, trying to relax my arms a bit. "Just give me the damn instructions and let's get this over and done with."

"Since I’m teaching you to Salsa, you need to remember that most of your body movement comes from your hips."

My face flared, and I swallowed hard.

"I'm serious. Keep your upper body stiff, and sway your hips from side to side. You'll get into a rhythm once the music is on. Okay?" He watched intently while I tried to sway from side to side. I felt like a fool. After a while he stopped me. "Just slow down. You're jiggling a bit like a Hawaiian." He dropped his hands to my hips, putting slow pressure on the left one, to make me move to the right, and then his hand on the right, making me move to the left. "Loosen your hips up, and try and use a slow, fluid motion to start with."

He looked up at me, and smiled.

A burning sensation hit my cheeks. I couldn't believe that he was teaching me how to dance, and he had his hands on my hips making me sway to an imaginary beat. If I didn't feel self-conscious before, I sure did now.

My mouth was dry, and every time his eye caught mine or he was too close to me, I would feel my heart miss a beat.

"Don't be afraid of me, Mack."

I hesitated. "I'm not."

He stepped back and looked at me. "You are. I'm not here to judge you; I'm here to teach you. But you need to let me do that, or you're still going to dance stiffly."

I felt short of oxygen just looking at him, and I lowered my gaze. He moved closer to me. "Look at me," he said quietly.

I lifted my head; his fingers brushed my neck as they made their way up to my chin. He leaned forward, and I forgot to breathe. "I just have to get this out of the way," he murmured as his lips sought mine.

My lips parted and I breathed him in. Energy sparked between us as our lips touched and the kiss deepened. I couldn't think straight. All of the stress, worry, and anxiety I'd felt brewing over the past few months seemed to drop away, and I instinctively started to wrap myself around him. My hand ran over the light stubble on his jawline, and traced its way down his neck and shoulder.

If I was honest with myself, it was probably the best kiss I had ever been party to. There was just something between us that seemed to be in rhythm.

Unlike my dancing skills.

I broke the kiss, and put my hand against his chest. "What was that for?" I whispered.

He smiled, and kissed me lightly again. "No reason. I just wanted you to relax."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you say that to all the girls?"

Chase pulled back from me, his eyes deadly serious. “There are no other girls, Mack."

"I think you better keep teaching me how to dance," I said after a few moments. Men that looked like him usually had a flock trailing after them. He was the first person to say that he would do anything to get the job done, and if he lived by the same philosophy that Gabe had with Carmen - I had no doubt that there were other women.

He obviously saw the doubt on my face, and blew out a breath. "So, that's how it's going to be is it?"

I met his gaze. "Yes." He knew that I was pulling away from him. I didn't want to be just another notch on his bedpost, so to speak. Besides... a relationship between us complicated things. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted him. Especially after that kiss, but I just knew that everything would be so utterly different between us if anything more happened. At least this way, we could try to pretend we had a normal working relationship.

He nodded. "We'll come back to that later. In the meantime, step towards me, assume the standard position, and let's get down to business."

* * *

I went to bed that night with Chase on my mind. I don't know what it was, but something was there. He'd said he wanted to talk about it, but the geeky, introverted part of me just wanted to bury my head in the sand.

I had to admit, the dancing was fun. Once the music had started, I actually found myself getting into a groove that I’d never experienced before. Every now and then the reflections of us in the mirrors lining the training room would catch my eye and it would give me warm fuzzies.

Chase was an anomaly to me. He was so different to every person I'd ever met. He was full of intrigue, and yet was open and honest about things when it suited him. But he was also deadly in every sense of the word.