I pick up speed, running harder.
Hard enough that sweat streams down my throat and chest. My thigh muscles scream in protest. My lungs surge, and my chest heaves. It’s a feeling I revel in. A pain I can control.
When my phone rings yet again, I curse silently when I see the number on the screen. Our agreement was that they’d leave me alone. Yet Dario has called me three times this morning. It has to be important.
Fuck it.
I reach for the device and hit the answer button.
“We have a problem,” says Dario.
“I already told you; I’m not into that life anymore,” I say.
“It’s not for me. It’s about…it’s about Andy Carter,” says Dario.
I hit the control button on the treadmill, slowing the pace until I’ve come to a halt.
“What about her?” The words are staccato as my breath heaves in.
“She’s gone missing,” says Dario.
“What do you mean ‘missing’?” I press. I reach for my sweat towel and mop my face and throat.
“She’d been planning a trip. Nikki had a driver heading to her place to take her to her flight. When he got there, she was gone.”
Chapter 6
Mateo Ricci
“So maybe she got her own ride. You know what that chick is like. Fucking impossible,” I mutter, remembering the times she’d kicked and fought like a hellcat when Dario had instructed me to manhandle her away from his own woman, Nikki. Those days are over now. I no longer answer to him. Or anyone else, for that matter. Free agent. That’s my new gig. The rest of the fucking planet can go to hell for all I care.
“There’s more,” Dario continues, clearly not getting the hint to leave me the fuck alone. “She was supposed to call Nikki when she landed, but the call never came. Now she’s not answering her phone. The hotel says she never arrived.”
“So, what the fuck do you want me to do about it?” I snap. I’m getting the sinking sensation that this is about to become my problem.
“I need you to find her, Mateo,” Dario says bluntly. He’s never been a man to mince words. I’ve always appreciated that. Though now, I’m not so sure.
Half the reason I’d been disinterested in Raoul’s women was that I couldn’t get the auburn-haired beauty out of my mind. I’d known from the first time I’d seen her that she was going to be trouble; the sassy doctor who’d literally hit on me as I’d walked through the entrance to the pediatric ward that she worked in. It had been a challenge to resist her. Her wild, impetuous ways. The sex appeal that rolled off her in waves. I felt myself being drawn like a moth to a flame. And I knew what that meant.
I was gonna get burned.
“Can’t do it,” I say to Dario now. I don’t feel guilty about it. He has dozens of “soldiers” at his disposal. Any one of them can do this for him.
“No,” he responds firmly. “It has to be you. You’re the best I know. And Nikki is going mad with worry. I can’t have this upsetting her. The babies…” he trails off. “Please, ‘Teo.”
I heave a sigh, feeling my resolve waver.
“Good workout?” a voice says from behind me. It’s the blonde again. I glance over my shoulder at where she’s standing too close behind me. Fake tits press too firmly against the bright fabric of her cropped gym top. She has a hand on her hip. Her smile is too bright. Her tan is too deep.
I remember the golden expanse of Andy Carter’s sleek curves. The image of her cutting through the air as she dove into Dario’s pool. Those breasts had been hand-crafted by God himself. Those legs. That fucking ass. Nature created all that pure beauty.
“I’m listening,” I say as I step off the treadmill and brush past the blonde.
“Give me the details.” I don’t mention to him that I’d already done some digging of my own in those first weeks after I’d met the delectable doctor. Daughter of billionaire investment mogul Broderick Carter. A man of means. Yet somehow, she’s remained apart from him. I sensed a difficult history there.
A troubled woman.
My kinda Kryptonite.
