Dark Nights Dangerous Men

by Elisabeth Naughton, Cynthia Eden, Katie Reus, Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright, Joan Swan

  Saul stood on the terrace, wrapped his hands around the wrought-iron railing, and sucked the warm night air into his lungs. Festive lights wound through the trees; colorful lanterns hung throughout the gardens, circled the pool deck, and lit the cabanas. Wait staff milled among the guests—some of the most powerful people in Mexico.

  His world hadn’t been so right, so balanced and perfect, since the day Alejandra and Santos died.

  “Beautiful night.”

  Fermin’s voice sounded at the open doors behind Saul, and he paused before greeting the police chief. While the man was a necessary and beneficial ally, they seemed to constantly fall into an intangible power struggle.

  “Hola, Dominic. Perfect, isn’t it?”

  Fermin stood at Saul’s side and looked out over the crowd. “And this was a perfect idea.”

  “I have them from time to time.” Saul smiled. “I also have the problem of Cassandra solved. She’ll be gone by tomorrow at noon.”

  “There are several people here tonight who will be happy to hear that,” Fermin said. “I have good news on those contacts I mentioned.”

  Irritation bristled along Saul’s spine. The man always had to be one up on him. Saul smoothed away the frustration. He had to play the game. “I’m listening.”

  Fermin took a look over his shoulder and around the terrace. “I’ve found someone with deep connections in the Middle East. Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran. He’s vacationing in Cabo, heard about our venture, and would like to discuss…business opportunities…with us.”

  Our venture. Business opportunities with us.

  Saul had no doubt Fermin would try to take over his business far sooner than Rio would. But Rio came with his own complications. Saul watched his top employee now, speaking poolside to the very beautiful wife of an American senator, yet his gaze kept drifting to Cassandra, where she sat talking with a small group of women. Saul had wanted Rio to distract Cassandra, not become obsessed with her. Tomorrow’s test would be good for him. Force his head back where it belonged—to business.

  “Interesting,” Saul said. “What do you know of this man? How do you know he’s not a mole sent by Suarez?”

  “His background checks out. I have my men digging into his contacts, his history, his past deals. So far he appears to be just what he says he is—a broker to the most valuable terrorists in the world.”

  Excitement nudged Saul’s uncertainty aside. He could always find a way to twist the control from Fermin’s grasp at a later time if necessary. “Set up a meeting first thing next week. The tangos are due any time.”

  Cassie smoothed the bodice of her dress in the bathroom mirror. Her hands moved over her breasts and tugged at the low-cut fabric, wishing they were Rio’s hands. The searing memory of the way he’d grabbed her in the darkness of the garden filled her with heat. She was already wet. Had been from the first moment he looked at her tonight.

  “That dress makes me want to do you right here.”

  First in an alcove on a public street, now in the midst of a party with the most powerful people in Baja? Where wouldn’t she consider doing him? The man made her want crazy, uncharacteristic things. Say crazy, uncharacteristic things. Do crazy, uncharacteristic things.

  Though, if she were going to be honest with herself, Rio made her realize that this emerging tempestuous sexual side had always been part of her but had never had a safe place for expression.

  Rio made her feel safe. In so many ways. Yet…

  She looked at the clock on the vanity. Nearly 1:00 a.m. without so much as a hint to anything that would help her nail Saul. Not surprising, since she hadn’t been digging. With Mike’s words drifting through her head, Cassie was the model stepdaughter, enduring the blatantly false web of lies Saul wove throughout the night.

  She was tired. Confused. Frustrated. And she wasn’t thinking clearly, because every thought included Rio. It was time to retreat to her room.

  She made her way through the living room and stepped from the air-conditioned house and into a soft, warm sea breeze. The setting brought back wonderful memories of parties like this in her youth, when there had been other kids to play with. They’d splashed in the pool while parents chatted on the deck, flown kites on the beach, played hide-and-seek in the gardens.

  A thought flashed into her mind, one of having all that again, only with Rio and their kids, which jolted her heart with twin surges of excitement and fear.

  They had a long way to go before Cassie would entertain solidifying those dreams. Right now, her fantasies encompassed a quick good night and whispered invitation to Rio and climbing into something sexy and pretty to wait for him in bed.

  “God, I love you.”

  Rio’s words danced through her chest as her heels clicked on the sandstone. She took a deep breath and pushed the nerves aside. She could only hope, pray, he meant them.

  She spotted Rio speaking with a man she didn’t know, so she paused nearby, positioning herself behind a thick, flowering vine, and took a glass of champagne from a passing server. She wasn’t causing any trouble, simply…waiting patiently.

  “Very dangerous cargo, amigo,” the older man said, his voice low but deep, carrying to Cassie. “This is a volatile climate with dangerous competitors. Not the kind of people you want to make angry.”

  “I understand.” Rio’s voice was in business mode, polite, professional.

  She peered through the lattice. Rio’s gaze darted between the man and the guests, always watching, assessing. She turned her back again, took a healthy drink of champagne for suddenly jumping nerves.

  “You would do very well with me, Rio. My operation is much larger than Saul’s. I could use a man of your skills. You’ll be safer in my organization as well. You’re dangerously exposed here. Everyone knows Saul insulates himself with people he considers expendable. He stupidly underestimates your value.”

  “Thank you, sir. That’s a very generous offer, but—”

  “I heard about your operation in Mexico City. You made something of that puto. His own greed and ignorance killed him. Think of what you could do in an organization like mine, with real businessmen who have contacts and goals.” The older man could have been an inspirational speaker. “Just think about it. Consider this an open invitation to come on board. You can branch out, refine your abilities, take charge. I’ll support any direction you want to go. You know, Rio, drugs are always profitable, but weapons, that’s were the big money lies. I could really use your expertise. And I can guarantee you’ll find big trouble where Saul’s leading you.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind, sir. It’s always good to have options.” Rio’s voice remained as smooth and congenial as if the man had invited him out for golf. “And I do appreciate your consideration.”

  A knot pressed against Cassie’s lungs. She sucked in a deep breath, let her vision blur over the crimson blooms surrounding her, and tried to…rationalize? A chilling wash of reality raised gooseflesh on her arms. She was hiding at her own home, eavesdropping on her lover who’d just all but admitted to being involved in the criminal activity that had destroyed her own community. To doing business with the man who’d ruined her life, her mother’s life, her brother’s life.

  Cassie closed her eyes and emptied the champagne glass. She set it on a passing tray and pressed her fingers to her temples. Was she an idiot, repeating mistakes because of some kind of twisted psychological damage? Or was that goodness beneath his rough surface real? She hadn’t been the only one to see it. Marta, Miguel, Lorena, they’d all seen it too.

  She had to get to her room and call Mike, because she didn’t know what the hell she was doing anymore. Waiting for a path among serving staff, she took the first opening but froze when she heard Saul’s voice coming from the area where Rio was standing.

  “I just talked to Ahmed. The shipment is still due in early.”

  Heart pumping, Cassie stepped back into her hiding place. She was suddenly cold despite the warm night and crossed her arm
s.

  “Saul.” Rio’s voice was no longer cool but edged with frustration. Cassie glanced through the lattice and found the man he’d been talking to earlier gone. “Why do you keep stepping in to do my job? Are you unhappy with my work?”

  “Not at all. You’ve made fantastic headway with Cassandra, but I know she is difficult and time-consuming. I’m just making sure all the loose ends are tied up.” Saul paused. “You have kept Cassandra sufficiently…satisfied?”

  Cassie went still. A chill spread low in her belly. There was no doubt what Saul meant by satisfied. The sexual innuendo lay heavy in the tone behind the word. She stopped breathing, waiting for Rio’s response.

  “Believe me, it hasn’t been easy.” His disgruntled response fell like a stone to the bottom of Cassie’s stomach.

  Saul’s laugh sounded like those Cassie had heard in movies from the midst of a men’s locker room. “Is the payoff at least worth the hardship? Hard to imagine you wouldn’t get quite a bit of pleasure from such a feisty woman. I always love the opportunity to release pent-up aggressions.”

  Cassie’s mouth fell open. She shook her head. Deny it, she implored in her head. Deny it!

  When Rio didn’t answer, Saul prodded him. “Don’t leave me in suspense, Rio. What kind of fuck is she? Submissive, angry, boring?”

  Shock punched her. She expelled all the air she’d been holding in one whoosh.

  “Saul,” Rio said, his voice lowered so Cassie almost couldn’t hear it. “This isn’t appropriate—”

  “Is she a good fuck, Rio?” Saul’s voice rose with an unnatural thrill, like something Cassie would expect in a high school boy. She’d heard him do this with Santos when he’d been trying to entice information out of his son as a boy. Cassie willed Rio to see the trap. “That’s all I’m—”

  “Amazing, sir.” Rio’s voice ran cold. “She is amazing. Sir.”

  She fisted her hand and pressed it to her throat. Forced herself to take air. Tremors shook her body. Her brain jumped between loyalty and betrayal, love and fear. What in the hell was this?

  “Really.” Saul’s tone slid back into one she was more familiar with. Cool. Suspicious. “I see. She’s grown awfully fond of you awfully fast.”

  No response from Rio.

  Saul sighed. “She is beautiful. She can be charming. Amazing in bed, you say. I could see how a man could grow attached—”

  “She’s just a job, sir.” Rio’s snap made Cassie flinch. “You told me to keep her busy in bed, to keep her preoccupied. She is preoccupied. I am in no way attached. A good fuck is a good fuck. End of story.”

  “Saul told him to what?” Cassie whispered, crossing her arms over her belly and leaning into them, counter pressure to the pain. She told herself Rio was talking Saul’s language. Telling Saul what he wanted to hear. He had to be.

  Saul’s satisfied chuckle chilled Cassie to the bone. “I knew I could count on you, Rio. Always up to the task. I’m glad she turned out not to be too much of a hardship on you.”

  “No, sir.”

  “Well, keep doing her however you’ve been doing her. She’s been as well behaved as a kitten with cream on her paws. Reward her so well tonight she sleeps until noon tomorrow, will you? That will keep her out of the way while we finish business.”

  “My pleasure, sir.”

  The conversation ended, but Cassie didn’t move. Couldn’t move. She was frozen there, hiding with the servants. Her brain was spinning so fast she grew dizzy. When a server offered the tray of champagne, she picked up two glasses, downed them both and returned the crystal before the server continued on.

  Two important and opposite pieces of information kept running up against each other—Rio adamant about not being with her because Saul would see it as a betrayal, and Rio being with her at Saul’s instruction.

  And suddenly this whole thing looked a lot like one of Saul’s elaborate games—Rio’s slow acquiescence to her advances. His knowledge of her past enabling him to give her just what she needed in bed. Saul never went right for the kill. He always orchestrated an invasive, subversive attack. Always targeted a person’s weaknesses and…

  Why do you keep stepping in to do my job?

  She’s just a job.

  A job.

  She gasped aloud. Men were her weakness. Because of Sharpe. And Saul would only know about that weakness if…“Oh my God,” she breathed, her stomach suddenly queasy.

  “Cassie.”

  Rio’s voice startled her. Fear, pure and painful, hit her heart and crackled through her chest. She jumped and turned.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  His voice sounded like his own again, the one she knew, not the one that belonged to the man talking to Saul.

  “Hey,” he said, tone softening. “Are you feeling alright? You look a little…green.”

  He took another step closer, put gentle hands on her shoulders and slid them down her arms. Her throat closed. A shiver shook her body. Reflexively, she stepped out of his reach.

  His hands stayed exactly where they’d been on her arms, only now they held air. “Whoa,” he whispered, a frightened, apprehensive look washing his face. “What’s that about?”

  God, she wasn’t sure. She’d moved automatically. Instinctively. Her mind felt warped. Her stomach felt sick. She couldn’t process all the information coming together inside her head. Inside her heart. Couldn’t separate good from bad. Couldn’t see into all the shadowed corners.

  “Baby?” He dropped his hands, looked like he was about to come closer again, but didn’t. “Talk to me. What happened?”

  His quick, seemingly seamless shift from Saul’s employee to the man she cared so much for touched off something in the very depths of her body. A sensation of apprehension that quickly turned to fear. That fear triggered a memory. Of Blake Sharpe’s easy, charming ways, until that night in her kitchen. Of how she’d said no to his advances and he’d pulled a knife from the butcher block on her counter. Of the way he’d turned from magnetic to maniac in the span of mere seconds.

  Rio is not Blake, she told herself. Rio is not Blake.

  But…

  “Okay, okay…” Rio pushed back his blazer, one hand at his hip, one on his forehead as if he were trying to solve some monumental problem, “This is about the shooting. In town. I knew you’d find out about it eventually. I should have known you’d hear about it tonight.”

  “The—” Her mind sharpened. Then reeled again. He wanted to talk about that…now?

  “Let’s go to your room, baby.”

  She sputtered, not quite a laugh, not quite a scoff. “No.”

  “Cass,” he reached out and closed his hand around her arm. “I really can’t talk about it here.”

  “Then I guess you can’t talk about it at all.” She wished her voice sounded stronger. She wished her mind was clearer. She wished she could rewind life seven months and change everything. Cassie looked down at his hand. “You’re hurting me.”

  He let go as if she’d burned him. “Shit. Dammit.” He rubbed both hands on his blazer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… Shit, I’m sorry.”

  Cassie’s heart rose to her throat. The first sign of distress and she was already caving. Aching to wrap him in her arms and soothe. And where would that get her? God, she didn’t know anymore.

  He rubbed her arm with both hands as if that would erase the red finger marks still indenting her flesh.

  “I didn’t…murder him…like everyone says.” Rio spoke low while casting furtive glances in all directions, still caressing the marks from her arms. “I told you about my friendship with your mother and Santos.”

  He paused and looked up. Cassie’s frown intensified, her mind trying to grasp the sudden involvement of her family in this conversation. “What do they…?”

  “When our friendship became a problem with Saul, I backed off.” He dropped his gaze to her arm, and stopped caressing to hold her hand. “When I backed off, Santos los
t direction. He got caught up with a bad crowd. Toyed with the idea of joining the Muertos. There was an incident in town between Santos, one of his Muertos, who also happened to be Paco’s little brother, and a Diablo.”

  Rio glanced up again, checking her attention or her expression, she couldn’t tell. But when he found her rapt, he continued. “I got word about it, but by the time I got there, the confrontation had escalated.” He threaded their fingers. Cleared his throat. “There were weapons and drugs involved. The Diablo pulled a gun on Santos and Paco’s brother, and I…”—he flicked another bright-eyed glance at her from beneath those thick, black lashes—“…shot him. Killed him. But it was self-defense, not murder.”

  He’d taken a life…to save Santos’s?

  Cassie felt like a yo-yo. Everything with this man was one step forward, one step back. One good deed wiped out by one bad.

  She thought of Santos. “That’s why he had the tattoo.”

  Rio nodded, inspecting her fingers as if he were going to become a palm reader.

  “Why Paco feels he owes you,” Cassie said. “Why the Diablos hate you.”

  He sighed. “There are always two sides to a story, Cass. You have to consider the source when you’re deciding which to believe. The people here don’t know me.”

  “But I do?” she asked.

  He lifted his head and really looked at her now. “Yes.” His tone was absolute. “You know me.”

  His adamant gaze, the confidence in his answer, made her stomach grow tighter. “How can you say that? How can you stand here and say that after…?”

  Her breath caught just thinking about the things that had come out of his mouth.

  He leaned in. “After what?”

  “That,” was all she could get out before lifting her chin toward the lattice, pulling her hand from his and wrapping her arms around herself.

  He watched her another long second, then turned slowly and looked at the lattice, his gaze on the spot where he’d been standing with Saul. His whole body went still.