Cowboy Boots and Inexpressible Longing [Cowboy Boots 5] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Natalie Acres

  “Who are you and how’d you get up here?”

  A Latino fellow sauntered toward him. He moved with boldness, acting as if his confidence alone could carry him through the flames of hell. “I have a message for you.”

  “Drew,” Suzy whispered behind him. “What’s going on?”

  “Whatever message you have, it’s between me and you,” Drew told him, reaching in his pocket. A second later, he slipped a single silver key in her hand.

  “I can’t help it if you were entertaining your girlfriend tonight,” the man said. “Sometimes innocent bystanders are caught up in the crossfire when there are unsettled matters among men.”

  “She isn’t my girlfriend.”

  The wave of sadness that washed over her left a stabbing sensation she remembered well, but not because of the hurtful declaration. No, she remembered the two previous times when Drew had made similar statements.

  In both incidences, they’d been in the throes of potential disasters. Oh God, had she placed them in harm’s way? Had someone followed her from Missouri? Had she put her need to see him before his safety?

  “Go now,” he snapped. “Hurry to the end of the hall. I’m the last door on the right. Security code is your birthday.”

  “Don’t make a move, pretty lady,” the fellow told her. “Or your boyfriend is dead.”

  “He isn’t my boyfriend,” she said, realizing her declaration was precisely what Drew would want to hear.

  Maybe.

  Drew’s reaction to her announcement left her bewildered. He straightened his back, squared his shoulders, and bristled as if he had just heard the most damning of insults.

  “You heard her,” Drew said, keeping his gun leveled on the guy in front of them. “We ain’t a couple. We’ve never been a couple.”

  “Nice try, Remington. We’ve had our eye on you for a while now. We know what you do and with whom. You haven’t spent more than a couple of hours with a lady since that one there behind you left your bed in Virginia.” The mob-looking character laughed. “I believe that was about two years ago. Does that sound about right, Miss Matthews?”

  She gasped. “Drew, how does he know that?”

  Drew stood taller and cocked his gun. “The woman is out of here before we discuss business.”

  More laughter resounded. This time it blasted toward them as if the evil chuckles had been shot through a funnel from the other end of the hall. “What happened to Master Drew?” A man emerged before them. Taking long strides, the young man apparently had every intention of using whatever position and power he thought he owned to insult Drew.

  Big mistake.

  “It’s an act,” the first fellow said. “Isn’t it, Miss Matthews?”

  “Get out of here,” Drew grated out, patting her hip. “Now.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” she whispered.

  “Yes. You. Will.” Firm in his request, Drew stepped away from her and marched down the hall with a cocked gun in one hand, another palm resting on his hip.

  A switchblade was tucked away in that side pocket. She could see the imprint through his slacks as he deliberately put some distance between them.

  “What’s the message, asshole?” Drew asked.

  About that time, a soft bell resounded and two of Drew’s men stepped off the elevator with their guns drawn. She recognized the first fellow from the club and the other guy was Manny Mancini, someone she’d briefly met in the past. What the hell was this place anyway? Some BDSM club employing former Underground Unit operatives?

  “Hello, Manny. How are you?” the Latino asked. Long, extended dimples slid up both cheeks when he smiled.

  With scars lining Manny’s forearms, he didn’t act as if he were the least bit intimidated. Similar to Drew, he advanced upon the two men like he planned to put a bullet in one head before firing a few shots into the other guy’s heart.

  “We don’t want any trouble,” the fellow at the end of the hall announced. “We just came to deliver a message.”

  “They’re stalling.” Manny apparently didn’t believe in biding his time. In a blink of an eye, he pulled another weapon. With his arms spread like the wings of an eagle, he aimed his guns at both men.

  “I see you’ve earned your reputation,” the Latino said, acting amused.

  Bad guys were all the same. Suzy had been around enough of them when she and Drew “didn’t date” before. She’d yet to meet one of these sordid characters who looked frightened. Perhaps it never occurred to them that they might leave one of these undesirable situations in their very own body bag.

  “What do you want?” Drew asked. “Did Esparza send you?”

  The second guy traipsed up the hall and slapped a stack of photographs against Drew’s chest. “He said to tell you not to come back to his home or he will add more pictures to his collection.”

  He tapped the other gangster-looking dude on the shoulder and they hurried through the door marked as the emergency route. Manny and his sidekick lingered near the exit while Drew shifted through the images.

  Seconds later, Drew dropped his head and his entire body slumped. One by one, he shuffled through those eight-by-ten photographs.

  “Don’t do this to yourself, man.” Manny peered over his shoulder. He tucked his guns in his pockets. “Don’t let Esparza win.”

  “Follow them,” Drew said in a barely audible voice. “Make sure they leave the club. And put security on this floor and at my door. No one comes up here without permission as long as she’s here.”

  Manny nodded, turning to acknowledge Suzy with only a tilt of his head.

  When the men left, Drew stalked her. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “I have nowhere else to go.”

  “If you’re that hard-up—and I don’t believe you are—you’re in a hell of a situation.”

  “My state of personal affairs seldom improves.” She started to explain why. Without Drew in her life, there wasn’t much to celebrate. Instead of adding to his guilt, she walked by him when he stepped inside his apartment.

  Closing out the world behind them, Drew tossed the photos to the credenza. “You’re never happy unless you’re in the heart of danger. Are you?”

  “What can I say? I’ve missed you.”

  “Oh yeah? Well missing me may just get you killed.”

  Chapter Three

  “Other than dodging bullets and receiving mementos from the past, how have you been?”

  “You came all the way from Virginia to ask how I’ve been? Couldn’t you pick up the phone?” Drew clucked. “You used to do that, ya know.”

  Hell though, if she didn’t look good enough to throw down on the bed and fuck until morning.

  “I stopped calling when you stopped answering.”

  “You could’ve left a voicemail, sent texts, anything to let me know you were okay.” And that she still cared.

  “What’s wrong, Drew?” She cocked her little head to the side and moistened her lips. “Were you afraid I finally took your advice?” Before he answered her, she quickly added, “I may have married, but you were never dead to me.”

  He swallowed once. Yeah buddy. That had been the real humdinger. The one thing he’d feared all right, particularly after she said “I do” to that asshole Marcus Salts.

  At the thought of Salts, Drew strolled in the kitchen and grabbed two water bottles from the refrigerator. Returning to the open living room, he twisted off the lid and handed off one of the twelve-ounce containers.

  “Is the husband with you?” he asked, clearing off the sofa. He pushed aside a few tech magazines and business journals so she would have a place to sit.

  “I’m not married anymore,” she informed him, taking a sip of water. “Given the way you greeted me, I thought you knew.”

  “I didn’t take damn vows. If you want to cheat with me, who am I to stop you?”

  “You liar, you.” She looked at him like she adored him more just for attempting to play off his not-so-honorable intentio
ns. “You wouldn’t have kissed me if you still believed I was married.”

  “The honeymoon didn’t last too long from what I understand.”

  “Don’t look so surprised. I know you were the one behind the threats he received after he put me in the hospital.”

  Drew stopped his tidying up efforts. “What are you trying to say? It’s my fault you aren’t married anymore?”

  “I’m not complaining, but it wasn’t your place, Drew. You told me you didn’t want me in your life, but you refused to leave mine.”

  She was one hundred percent right on the money about that. “It’s my business when the people I care about are abused.”

  “I wasn’t ab—”

  “The hell you weren’t!” Drew threw his arms above his head and locked clasped hands behind his neck to keep from going to her right then and shaking some sense into her. Pacing, he slowly reeled in his temper. Marcus Salts was from old money. His family had owned most of the student housing in the college town of Columbia, Missouri.

  When they’d been in high school, Marcus had sported around fast cars and faster women. Then, in the blink of an eye, the Salts’ fortune was gone. His father lost it all in a late-night poker game, and Marcus carried around an enormous chip on his shoulder from that day forward.

  “You still hold it against me because I married him.”

  “I told you to get on with your life.”

  “And because I listened, you want to punish me for it?”

  With the word “punish” thrown out there on the table like a light blue poker chip, Drew’s balls tightened. He wanted to punish her all right. He wanted to bend her over his knees, whip that delectable ass and then fuck her snug pussy all night long. Oh yes, he wanted to beat her to death with some hardcore pleasure.

  “When did you get in town?” Drew asked, trying to redirect his focus.

  “Who were your friends?” she countered, her big brown eyes holding his to challenge.

  “Answer the question, Suzy.”

  “You first.”

  “People I know.”

  “Yesterday.”

  “Where were you staying?”

  “Were?”

  “Answer the question, damn it.”

  “I’ll probably keep that one under my hat,” she replied, obviously trying to lure the devil out of him.

  He strolled over to his desk and picked up the phone. “I can find out and then your name will be out all over Vegas. Do you really want me to cast a light of suspicion on you?”

  “MGM.”

  “I’ll send my guys over for your things.”

  “There’s no need.”

  “You came here tonight looking for me,” Drew reminded her.

  “Did I? Well that’s where you’re wrong, big boy. I came here tonight looking for a good time. I was told this is the best club in Vegas for voyeurism.”

  Every fucking nerve ending in his body strummed then. He stalked her, damn near coming apart at the seams as his cock stretched the slacks he wore. “So you still like to watch, baby?”

  Her body shook with visible tremors.

  “Do you, sub?”

  Laden with pure, unadulterated lust, her eyes shifted and she stared at the window. “You have a great view.”

  “Damn right, I do.” The guttural longing laced his words but he didn’t care. “And you’ll love that pretty view all the more when I’m taking you, fucking you up against that window and making you remember all the reasons why you can’t get me out of your system any more than I can forget you’re in mine.” He reached for her then and his whole body went rigid when he cupped her cheek.

  “Drew.” She turned her face to his hand and kissed the center of his palm.

  “You shouldn’t have come here, baby. It’s too dangerous right now.”

  “Then send me on my way,” she said, daring him.

  Yes, he knew it was a dare, one he didn’t want to challenge. Hell, he couldn’t if he tried. He’d taken the route of defiance. He had tried to ignore his feelings for her, and sent her away time and time again.

  Now, he couldn’t repeat history. Drew had known life without her, and while he couldn’t hold and keep her forever, he could take the night. He could have and hold her for a short period of time.

  Then, like always, he would love her enough to let her go.

  Chapter Four

  “We’ve got an edge,” Marco announced, entering the study.

  Removing his reading glasses, Gomez studied his eldest son and considered telling him they held several advantages in a stacked deck. The most cherished of them all? The children none of his enemies knew he had. The Remingtons and their renegade operatives were aware of other family members, but they had no idea he’d fathered several sons. “Do tell.”

  “The Matthews woman is here.”

  “Excellent.” Gomez reclined his chair and crossed his ankles. “When did she arrive?”

  “Yesterday. Our men saw her at Remington’s club. By all accounts, she hasn’t been in town long. Mr. Remington apparently wasn’t expecting her. She’s staying at the MGM.”

  Gomez chuckled. “You still have a lot to learn, son.”

  “I thought you’d be pleased with the information. We won’t need to send our men to Missouri now. We won’t run the risk of dealing with Sloane and Dusty Remington.”

  “Like I said you have a lot to learn.”

  Sloane and Dusty Remington may have been the fearless weapons of the Midwestern division at one time, but they were frail in comparison to the toxic Drew. He’d had too much time on his hands and his poisonous grief had guided him. He had taken the time needed to nurture his sorrow. He’d fed his despair.

  When he had finally emerged from his extended mourning period, Drew Remington had venom in his veins. He was lethal. He looked dangerous. He acted like a man who had been schooled in the militia and raised by mercenaries.

  His workouts had been extreme. His dedication had been unmatched. In fact, Gomez had stopped the ordered hit on Mr. Drew Remington for a purpose. He’d watched him with growing interest, determined to train his men as Drew had trained, pushing them to the brink so they too would later be viewed as worthy opponents.

  The road ahead, the battles to be fought, wouldn’t be prematurely celebrated when the treacherous playing conditions had yet to convince him of a destined victory.

  “Do you want me to send Geoff to her hotel?”

  “There’s no need,” Gomez replied. “Miss Matthews won’t be returning to the MGM. Now that Drew Remington knows his woman is in town, he will keep the lovely Miss Matthews under lock and key.”

  * * * *

  Suzy jiggled the door again. “Drew! Are you out there?”

  Drew kept his eyes on the paperwork before him. He was still seething over the way he had reacted to her, the way she’d disarmed his senses, left him feeling vulnerable at a time when he didn’t have the extra manpower to watch over her.

  “What do you plan to do about her?” Manny asked, entering without knocking.

  “While she’s here, you may want to ditch the habit of coming up here unannounced.”

  A hard pounding tantrum commenced on the other side of the wall. “I hear you, Drew Remington! Damn you. Answer me. I want to talk. That’s all.”

  “You heard the lady,” Manny drawled, grinning. “She just wants to talk.”

  “Right.” Drew had seen the lust in her eyes. He’d felt the desire in her body when he’d held her in his arms and imagined the forbidden pleasures they could enjoy together.

  No, she didn’t want to talk. Like, him, she most likely realized the discussions between them were long since over.

  “What did Donovan want earlier?” Manny asked.

  Drew’s lips twitched. “You mean the two of you didn’t meet downstairs for a drink?”

  “Fuck no. I can’t stand to be in the same room with the condescending bastard.”

  Manny was the only man who tolerated Brock Donovan even l
ess than Drew. “You need to channel that rage somewhere else if you’re planning to stay on and work for the club.”

  “My new division assignment is coming soon. We’ll part ways before you’re ready, sweetheart.”

  “When is the honeymoon over?”

  “Soon, I’m afraid,” Manny replied.

  Drew clucked. “You know what they say. All good times eventually come to an end.”

  “Don’t send me away feeling used and cheap,” Manny teased, throwing his feet up on the coffee table and staring at Drew’s bedroom door. “I feel like you’re trading me in for a newer model.”

  “She’s not staying.”

  Manny laughed. “Right.”

  An outright tantrum commenced with repetitive knocks and bangs. “Drew! Okay! I understand. I get it. You don’t want me here!”

  The hell he didn’t. He had wanted her there since he’d left her behind in Missouri.

  “I’ll leave! I swear it.”

  “Over my dead body,” he grumbled.

  Manny flashed a smile. “She’s got you by the balls, man. It’s the worst I’ve ever seen.”

  “That’s what everybody has been telling me for the last couple of years.”

  “Is she still married?”

  “No.”

  “You sure about that?” Manny asked. “I mean, it didn’t look like you had time to ask before you almost fucked her in the hallway.”

  “Spying?”

  “Watching your back and you’d better be glad, man. Your visitors were armed. They set off the metal detectors as they were leaving.”

  “How’d they get past them when they arrived?”

  “We’re still looking into it. We think the weapons were already here.”

  Drew processed. “That can’t be.”

  “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Probably, but I hope not,” Drew replied. “Work on it and get me some answers. There’s no way Esparza’s men could’ve gotten by our security. If they had guns when they left, they picked them up here. One of our guys must’ve been bought off.”