I guess she does want to talk about it, he thought.
“I don’t have siblings, Annie, but I suspect that if I did, I’d be protective of them. Give him some slack. He’s worried.”
A half-naked man walked out of the bedroom, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning. “Hey, honey. Whatcha doing here? And who’s this?”
“Xander, Rocco. Rocco, this is my roommate Xander.”
Xander stopped and his eyes opened wide. “Rocco? As in Rocco Monroe? I didn’t recognize you with all that dirt. What the hell happened to you two?”
“Long story. I’ll explain tomorrow.”
“It was nice to meet you, Xander.” Rocco said. “Mind putting on some clothes while my woman’s here?”
Xander looked down at himself and smiled and Annie playfully slapped Rocco on the chest. “It’s his home. He can do whatever he wants.”
“Maybe you should explain to him that I’m gay. Also, if you’d like to walk around in your tighty-whiteys, Rock, by all means . . . mi casa es su casa.” He waved his fingers. “Goodnight, kids!”
Rocco took her hand and led her to the bathroom. “Food later. Bath now. I want to know more about this ‘falling for me’ business. And then, afterward, you can explain to me how you never told me that one, you have a roommate, and two, that roommate is a man.”
“Let’s pretend none of that happened.”
“How about we don’t. How about you tell me your feelings and I’ll tell you mine. It’s like Girl 101.”
“I didn’t take Girl 101. I was raised with boys.”
“I get that, but I know you have feelings. Remember what I said. You can be a hardass out there, but here with me, those walls come down and you tell me what’s in your heart.”
“You first.”
“Get undressed and get in the shower and I’ll pour my heart out to you.”
He continued to scratch. “It’s just a few mosquito bites. Jeez, get a grip.”
She took off her sweaty shirt and pushed down her dirty jeans. Once they were both in the shower he squirted half a bottle of soap on their bodies.
“I’m thirty-seven years old, Annabelle. I’ve dated. I’ve travelled. I’ve seen what’s out there. But I’ve never met a woman like you. I don’t think I could ever get bored with you.”
“You’re so good at all the talking.”
He rolled his eyes and poured shampoo in her hair. “I already know you like me. More than like me. So you can play it off as if you don’t feel the same way, but I know the truth, Tiger.” He turned her around to face the water. “It’s cute how you’re trying to act unfazed.”
“Please, I already did the jealous girlfriend thing. I’m not acting unfazed.”
“Aww, so you admit you’re my girlfriend. Look at you, all girly and sweet.”
She turned back around and scowled and held up her middle finger. “Screw you, Monroe.”
He firmly grabbed her wrist and took that middle finger into his mouth. And sucked. “As you wish,” he said with a growl needing to be inside of her right away. He sucked and nipped on her finger, her eyes wide, pupils dilated. He would bet his entire fortune she was wet.
“Show me,” her voice low and lust-filled. “Show me what you like. What you want.”
He loved that she trusted him so much in the bedroom and that she was so open. He took her finger, slid her hand down her lean torso, and right between her legs. “Turn around and touch yourself,” he demanded, pushing her back down and her ass up. Pointing the shower away from them, he used his feet to widen her legs apart. He helped her balance herself with one of her hands against the wall. She looked over her shoulder and down to where he was fisting his swollen cock. He rubbed it up and down her slit.
“Fuck! Do not move a muscle.” Dripping water all over the bathroom, her face completely stunned, he walked out of the shower and ran to the medicine cabinet. “Please tell me you have condoms in here.” Everything fell out as he frantically searched the shelves.
“Yes. Xander does.” He’d never been so happy her roommate was a man. His dick was about to explode. He ran back in, ripped the wrapper, and slid it on.
“Don’t stop touching yourself. This might feel intense in this position. If it hurts let me know.” He slowly slid inside of her. The way her pussy gripped his cock was something he could live a hundred lifetimes and never get used to. It felt like a warm wet fist wrapped around him.
“Do you touch yourself?” he asked, but she didn’t respond and he pushed inside of her, hard.
“Ow!” she yelped when smacked her ass.
“Answer me. Do you touch yourself?” he asked again, now that he had her full attention.
“Yes.” Her needy moan vibrated through the bathroom and he pulled out and then thrust back in.
He’d never ever been this turned on in his entire life. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t already exploded inside of her but if she kept moaning that way . . . “Fuck, Annabelle. Fuck Fuck fuck. I’m coming.”
“Go. Do it.”
“No. Hurry. Get there.”
He reached around and pinched her nipple with one of his hands, the other one covering the one she had against the wall. But he couldn’t hold back any longer and he detonated so hard and intensely his legs shook. A moment later, as he was about to collapse to the bathroom floor, she stiffened against his body, using both hands to hold herself up against the wall, the sound of pleasure filling the room.
He gathered her in his arms as he slid down to the floor. “It’s gonna be awesome to watch you fall in love with me, Tiger,” he said, lazily kissing her shoulder. She fit so perfectly against him and when she stiffened at his comment he chuckled but just held her tighter. He was beyond caring. The way he felt about her was too big. Too intense. And he didn’t want it to end. There was just one thing that kept holding him back from jumping with both feet in.
The only fear he had was her fearlessness.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about her job.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Advance ticket sales for El Traficante have set new records worldwide.
The jet landed at La Vanguardia airport outside Villavincencio, Colombia, at ten in the morning. From the small window in the plane it looked like a gloomy day with rain on the horizon, which was expected being that they were so close to the rain forest.
Annie was so serious he barely recognized her. Her face transformed into a soldier’s, her back straighter, her lips set in a straight line, her eyes moving quickly, scanning everywhere around them. Yet her body was still. She was a damn robot. This was the side of her that scared him. He wanted her there with him, not as an employee.
She wasn’t showing even a drop of emotion. He thought that by now he knew her. God, did he know her, he’d come to know every square inch of that delectable compliant little body. Just thinking of the way she let go for him, peeled back that armor, and let him have his way with her body, made his cock stir. But now she was cold, calculating, and quite frankly intimidating.
He knew she had an arsenal hidden underneath her clothes. And now that the plane was touching down, he was worried too. Not so much about himself, but about her. She’d have absolutely no qualms about getting right into the thick of things if shit went south, and he wasn’t prepared to see his woman in danger. Danger which he put her in. Yes, she signed up for it, but that didn’t make it less difficult. He wished they’d met under different circumstances. That he could be her protector, even if she didn’t need any protecting. It was old-fashioned, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t want this for her. He wanted peace and tranquility for her. Not this wound-tight soldier who was now signaling for him to exit the plane after having surely done a sweep of the tarmac.
They were keeping a low profile. He hoped that would continue throughout the week. In jeans, a T-shirt, and a baseball hat, Rocco tried to look as unassuming as possible, but it was hard to blend in when he had just arrived in a private jet with an entourage of security, an
d when, in a country where the average person did not have a car, he was heading out of the airport in a brand new black sedan.
“Stop!” Annie said from five feet in front of him, halting her movement. “This plan isn’t going to work.” She turned to the local security and liaison he hadn’t even been introduced to yet. “I want a cab. Someone go get us a cab.”
The five men looked at each other utterly confused. “You,” she said, pointing to the one who seemed to be in charge. “Your English, it’s good, right?”
“Yes, señora.”
“Okay, please explain to them that if we leave this airport in a caravan, people will get curious. We need to blend in. I should have thought of this earlier,” she said, her face full of self-loathing. “But it’s not going to work. I’ll call the studio and then Rock and I will go see about the taxi. You five can head out in these cars and meet us tomorrow at the lobby at 0800. I don’t want anyone following you to the hotel.” It was as if she’d read his thoughts.
“But señora?”
“Do it,” she barked as she swiped the screen on her phone. Luckily, they were on a private tarmac in the airport and there wasn’t anyone around to witness all this. The man translated what Annie had said to the other men and they were speaking in Spanish, flailing their hands around. It didn’t take a genius to understand that they weren’t happy. Meanwhile, Annie stood aside and made calls, getting louder and louder by the minute. Eventually the guys got into the car and left and Annie made another call.
“Joey, it’s me. I’m here and there’s been a change of plans. I can’t explain it now but I’ve pissed everyone off. You have to trust me on this one though . . . yeah, expect a pissed-off call . . . yeah, I do know what I’m doing. Thanks, Joey. Call you when I’m there.” And she hung up.
“You ready?” she asked Rocco, tucking her phone back into her pocket.
“Yes. You?”
“One sec.” She let go of her ponytail, fluffed up her hair, and rolled up her sleeves. “I hope no one recognizes me from those pap photos. From now until we get on set tomorrow, I’m just the woman you’re seeing and you’re just a regular guy. We’re two regular people on vacation.”
“On our honeymoon.”
She cocked an eyebrow and shook her head. “Whatever. You ready?”
“Yes.”
She began to walk but he grabbed her hand and entwined her fingers with his. “You think I’d let my girlfriend or wife just walk ahead of me? Come on, get into character, little Tiger.” He winked and they walked into the airport. “Good job, by the way. You were right, the other option would draw too much attention.”
When they walked into the airport, they easily got lost in the sea of people trying to find their way around. It wasn’t like an American airport, but the chaos was mostly the same, just on a smaller scale. After going through customs, where no one seemed to pay them any mind, they went to get their bags. “I’m about to say the douchiest thing that’s ever come out of my mouth,” he said, as they waited for their bags to arrive to the baggage area.
“I highly doubt that, babe.” She smiled.
He pulled her to him and kissed her head. “Okay, you’re right. But definitely the douchiest thing I’ve said today. I can’t remember the last time I carried my own bags—or hell, waited for my bags.”
“Such a diva,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. He couldn’t tell if this was part of their role or it was genuine affection. Damn, how he wished it was genuine. It felt so good. Too good. It almost made him forget why he was there to begin with. He could totally imagine them on a vacation together just relaxing like this.
“There they are.” She let go of him and walked to the end of the room where two men were unloading their bags. He instantly missed her closeness.
They each rolled their bags out to the main entrance of the two-story building that was La Vanguardia and waited for one of the lines of cabs to roll up and open the door for them.
Rocco took Annie’s luggage and placed it in the trunk of the car together with his. By the time he came back around, Annie was already in the car giving the driver instructions as to where to go.
The rest of the crew had arrived a week ago to scout out the location and make all the arrangements so that Rocco and Julia would be in and out of Colombia as quickly as possible, and with Julia in the movie, it was hard to go unnoticed. In fact, everyone was anxiously anticipating her arrival later that evening.
By the time they arrived at the hotel it was raining. The hotel, at the request of NHN, had upped their security and the place was supposed to be a fortress. At least that’s what they’d been told. But it surely didn’t seem like it with a few local news vans set up around the parking lot. They were far enough away that they wouldn’t physically be a problem, but definitely with the high-resolution cameras and the long-range zoom lenses, they would see them get out of the cab and walk inside. Right now, they’d probably just suspected the crew was in town and were hoping that the stars would appear, but now they’d be able to confirm it.
“Damn it.” She saw the vans too. “I’ll get the bags, you go straight up. They’re waiting for you. Suite three-thirteen. Go.”
He chuckled as he took out his wallet to pay the cab driver.
“What’s so funny?”
“You’re actually serious? You think I’m going to leave you down here by yourself? With the luggage and camera crews? With what you keep saying is a dangerous situation?”
“It’s my job!”
He handed the driver money and stepped out of the car, holding the door open for her, ignoring her plan completely.
“You’re my woman, I’m not doing that. Come on, let’s go.” The cab driver was watching their interaction and if the vans across the parking hadn’t gotten wind of him being there, the cabbie would undoubtedly let them know in a matter of moments.
Rocco moved his baseball cap lower on his eyes and took the luggage out of the trunk.
“I’m not your woman right now. I’m your bodyguard, damn it,” she hissed, pulling her luggage out of his hand. He slammed the trunk down, hard.
“Well, you’re fired then.” He said it as a knee-jerk reaction, not really meaning it, but before he had a chance to apologize she yelled, “Get down!”
There was complete confusion as something came barreling toward his head, but she pushed him out of the way, getting the brunt of the impact of whatever it was. Suddenly glass bottles and rocks were being tossed at them and people were chanting “Vianse!” Which he recognized as “leave.”
The cab, which had shielded them from most of the impact, drove off, gravel flying all around them. Now they were completely exposed. “I said go!”
“No! Fuck, you’re hurt. Come on.”
The security from the inside of the hotel began to run out and she began barking out orders. Somehow in the mayhem he was whisked away. “Let go of me!”
“Señor. This way. Vámonos.”
“No!” He pulled away from one of the burly security guards and tried to go to Annie, but the men held him back, pulling him farther away instead of closer. “Fucking let me go, now!”
“No, señor. Calmate. Calamte. We have orders that you and Julia Vargas are number one priority. Vámonos.”
He continued to fight them until Annie came stumbling into the hotel, her palm touching her forehead. She looked at the bloody palm before wiping it on her jeans.
She had her gun drawn as she looked around the lobby trying to get her bearings. There were a few guests quivering off to the side confused. When she finally saw Rocco, she stomped toward him.
“Let’s go!” she barked, the security guards letting Rocco go and grabbing their bags.
“You are out of control!” he said when they’d finally gotten into the room.
“Tensions are high. You need to listen to me.”
He was so livid, he wasn’t sure whether to strangle her or make love to her. He picked up the room phone. “I need a med
ic up here please.”
“Are you hurt?” she asked, when he hung up.
“No! You are!” he pulled her to a chair in the sitting area of the suite. “Sit down.” He looked at her hairline, where there was a big gash.
“It’s just a scratch. I’m fine.”
“No. Stop.” He moved her hand out of the way and continued to check on her. A moment later a woman with a medical bag came in. Annie was reluctant to cooperate but finally relented.
“I told you it was nothing,” Annie said as she walked the medic out of the room.
“Better safe than sorry. I’m going to shower,” he said, slamming the door shut behind him.
* * *
She sat on the bed thinking of the last few moments. She texted Joey with an update, then tossed her phone aside. Maybe being with her was just that hard. He knew it would be, she’d never told him otherwise. Feeling irritated she opened the bathroom and then forcefully slid the curtain open.
“I told you I was intense and that my job was important. You said you’d understand and look, the first sign of a problem—you leave.”
He exhaled loudly, reached for the loop of her jeans, and pulled her inside. “Ack! Monroe, you’re getting me all wet!”
“I didn’t leave. I needed a breather. It scared the shit out of me when you pushed me away, literally, to get between me and danger. Bear with me, crazy. This isn’t easy for me.”
“I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
He bent down and kissed her. “I don’t want you to get hurt either.”
Knowing that this was as close as they were going to get to resolving this matter, she let it go. So instead, she decided to take advantage of her wet and naked boyfriend.
“I’ve always been curious about make-up sex,” she said, as she reached for the hem of her soaked top and pulled it off.
“Well, baby, with you as a girlfriend, I’m sure we’re going to be having plenty of make-up sex. Let’s start right now.”
Last First Kiss Page 21
