“I’m taking you home.”He zipped up, returned the cuffs to the drawer, and strode back over with her phone in his hand.“Domingo should be here by now.”He opened the door and stepped aside.“Come in.”
She stamped down a gasp as Domingo walked in and stared at the floor.Embarrassment radiated from him in palpable waves.No doubt, he’d heard her screaming her head off if he was just outside in the hallway.Madre de Dios.How humiliating.
“Run a trace on the last number in the text block.Probably a dead end, but we have to check.I’m taking Lourdes home, so I’ll get the phone back from you later.”
“Sure thing.”He shifted the strap of his brown leather satchel and darted to the sofa.
“Let’s go.”Enrique snatched up his jacket and offered Lourdes his hand.
Ignoring it, she stomped out into the hall with her head high and back straight.He wouldn’t break her.Shame her.She was stronger now than she’d ever been before.
Enrique had better watch out.The battle was far from over.
Chapter Eighteen
“Icould’ve driven myselfhome.”Lourdes slouched in the passenger seat of Enrique’s sleek black muscle car.The roomy interior and yellow dashboard lights soothed her senses after the seediness of the strip club.The cold air blowing from the vents teased her hair.
Her husband snorted behind the wheel and took a right at the intersection.“How do you expect to get back into the garage or the apartment?You don’t have a passkey.Your voice and fingerprint are not on file.I planned to take care of that once Zayas was dead.”
“Oh.That slipped my mind.”She traced the stitching in her skirt and shifted into a more comfortable position.The fabric caressed her bottom, now exposed from the loss of her panties.The heat of his wicked touch between her legs, on her breasts, and in her mouth lingered like a passionate kiss.Yet anger and hurt over those photos still burned.“You could’ve driven behind me as an escort instead of telling that bouncer to drop the SUV off later.”
“And let you miss the opportunity to ride in my baby?I don’t think so.”
“Your baby?”
Enrique grinned and tapped the steering wheel.“The car, princess.This gorgeous 1967 muscle coupe with its genuine Italian leather seats.I bought it several years ago from a junkyard and had it restored to original condition.Best money I ever spent.”
Despite her frustration, she laughed.“Just my luck.I would have to marry a classic car fanatic.”
“That, you did.”
She stared out the window where three men in flashy clothes and jewelry hooted and shoved each other good-naturedly as they entered a neon-lit strip club.Down the street, a few men in ratty clothes hustled into a bar while a handful of skimpily dressed women who had seen and done too much eyed every car that passed.Lourdes met the hard gaze of a bottle-blonde before the woman sauntered toward the pickup truck at the curb.
“Will you drive by La Estancia Roja?”She dragged her gaze from the hardships of the street to the now-scowling criminal beside her.“The youth centers I volunteered at were in rough neighborhoods, so I’ve seen heartbreak before.You don’t need to shelter me from something that is everyday life for so many people.I know the tolerance zone has some higher-class places and not-so-nice ones.The strip club draws in a lot of VIP clients, right?”
“Sí, but it’s affordable enough for the average person.”
