“It’s okay if you want to wait,” she said. “We barely know each other, and maybe all of this was a result of the stress we’re under.”
“No, it’s more than that.” He let his raging cock rest against her hip, toward the side where it was safe. “I will never be able to let you go, but I don’t know if you feel the same way.”
“You’re right. I don’t know how I feel.” Leanna’s eyes grew bigger, and she cupped his face so tenderly. “I want to know that my daughter is safe, and I know your first priority is Soledad.”
He let out the breath he was holding and nodded. “I want this to be special. We already got our rocks off, but when we make love, it has to mean something.”
Oh, crap. Had he just admitted he wanted to make love? What the heck was wrong with him? He wasn’t a guy who did love. He fucked and gave women a good time, and he definitely didn’t want to give Leanna the wrong idea.
He rolled off her and covered his eyes with one hand, his cock and balls with the other. Instead of leaving his side, she cuddled up to him and rested her head on his shoulder, where it belonged—where he never wanted her to leave.
“I don’t know about you, but I need a cold shower,” Leanna said. She kissed his cheek and patted his abs before leaving the bedside.
Even though she acted sweetly, she slammed the bathroom door before turning on the shower.
Axe didn’t want to wash any part of Leanna off him, so he pulled on his pants and straightened the bed. What a screwup he was. Not only had he failed to help her find her daughter, her main objective, but now, she was upset. No matter how he couched it, no woman would be happy that he’d put the brakes on what could have been an epic fuck.
Except Leanna would never be just a fuck.
Not Leanna.
She was like quicksand. The more he moved, the deeper he’d sink.
“Fuck,” Axe said when his phone rang at the same time Leanna’s burner buzzed with an incoming call.
“Yeah?” He answered his phone, expecting no one but his father.
“I’m at the airport. Just landed in Monterrey,” his father said. “Have you crossed the border yet?”
“Not yet, but I have Leanna with me.”
“Hot damn! You’re good, son,” his father exulted. “When are you going to make the exchange? Where’s the pickup spot?”
Axe shushed his father in case his voice could be heard from the phone, and he looked over his shoulder at the bathroom door.
“Oh, shit, Dad, gotta go.” He dropped the cell phone on the carpet.
Leanna stood at the bathroom door with a gun pointed at him. “What do you mean, you have Leanna?”
* * *
Leanna had never shot anyone before, but she knew how to use a gun. Being Joshua Cano’s squeeze meant she used to be a target, and he had paid for handgun training at the shooting range.
She had the safety engaged, so Axe wasn’t in any danger, but she’d suspected he was up to no good when he called off the sex.
Apparently, she was right. At least he had the decency to stop short of having condomless sex. How stupid of her for offering. She’d definitely need to get her hormones under control and remember her mission.
“Well?” She held the gun steady with both arms extended. “Answer me. Who were you speaking to?”
He raised both hands and faced her with his muscularly sculpted chest. Why hadn’t he put on a shirt?
Leanna didn’t want to stare at the nipples she’d tweaked or the firm mouth that kissed both sweet and hard. She wasn’t one of those weak-minded women who melted around commanding and controlling assholes. Okay, so she’d taken the pleasure she needed at the moment, but it didn’t mean she particularly cared about him.
“Will you put that gun down?” Axe lowered his hands and hooked his thumbs through his belt loops. “I thought we were a team.”
“No, you and your father are a team. El Bardo was right. You want to use me to get Soledad back. Actually, you wanted to use Carmelita for the trade, but you were too dimwitted to realize I could be used until your father suggested it.”
“I want both of us to get our daughters back and safe,” Axe said. “I had no idea this Carmelita-Soledad exchange was in the works until my father called. Please, sweetie, lower the gun.”
