“My family has some property in the Hunter Valley,” said Max. “It has a surveillance system, everything to make sure you’re safe. You can stay there with Simon.”
Simon frowned. “I thought we were going to talk her out of this. It’s a terrible plan.”
When he turned to her, Marianna glared back at him. His eyes were dark as he stared her down. “And what happens if none of this works, Marianna? Is your plan to keep putting yourself at risk, again and again?”
“No,” she said quietly. “I’ve already talked to my lawyer about getting out of the partnership with William, but I don’t want to give up Ruiz Imports just because he’s pushing me around. I owe it to my father to try to save whatever is worth saving.”
If her father wasn’t smuggling, too.
“So this is the very last time, Mari, no matter what happens?” Simon’s voice was soft, intimate.
She hadn’t decided quite as finally as Simon phrased it. But there was pleading in his voice, as if he was asking her to say yes, just for him. She glanced at the other two, both also waiting for her answer.
“Okay,” she finally said. “This is the last time. No more Nancy Drew.”
Simon’s shoulders dropped a little.
Marianna leafed through the papers. “Is that all? I don’t need to know secret codes or spy tricks?”
Derek and Max smiled.
“The rest is on us. Simon will walk you through what you need to do,” said Max, then flashed her a smile. “Next time, when you give us more than twenty-four hours’ notice to prepare, we’ll have all the spy codes typed up for you.”
A grumble came from Simon. “There’s no next time.”
Marianna barely said a word as she gathered her things from her hotel room, and that was just fine with Simon. The silence gave him time to walk through the events of the next twenty-four hours.
They were spending the night at Max’s place. Alone. Simon couldn’t keep his mind from going back to the last time they were alone together. He had been to Max’s vineyard estate a couple times, and his dirty mind wove Marianna right into those memories. Like slipping his hand under her dress and up her thigh as she opened a kitchen cupboard. Or taking her from behind against the door to one of the guest bedrooms. Or guiding her down, nice and slow, onto his cock on a kitchen chair. He and Marianna had more than enough practice of slipping away together that he knew the risk, too: one time wouldn’t be enough.
He leaned against the doorjamb of the hotel room as Marianna fit the last of her clothes from the closet into her hanging suitcase. Her eyes found his, and her cheeks flushed a little.
Did she have her own fantasies? The night before, the hunger was too much to resist.
She was a distraction. Would he spend the night resisting the tension that hummed between them, only to break down in the end? Maybe he should stop resisting. There was no reason not to get some pleasure out of this crazy week. Maybe that would make it easier to focus when the job got serious. After last night, he was almost sure Marianna would be on board with that plan.
Simon picked up their bags and gestured to the door. They rode down in the elevator, and Marianna stopped at the front desk to check out while he gave the lobby a last scan. He made eye contact with one of the Blackmore Inc. team members stationed at a lobby armchair. Laptop open, the guy blended right in with the business crowd. And he was in a perfect spot to see if that asshole Donovan made any moves to follow them.
Simon was betting Donovan would. If he was right, it more than justified all the backup that they’d put in place. Because he had a bad feeling that showing up at Goodwin’s early wasn’t much of a surprise.
By the time they settled into the backseat of the company town car, the silence between them was heavy. Something had shifted by the time they had left the Blackmore Inc. conference room. They were getting closer to old territory. Complicating their already-complicated story.
The driver started the car and headed toward the coast. They were heading to Simon’s house first so he could get some things and pick up his own car; then he’d drive them to the Hunter Valley. Marianna turned her head to the window as the city changed to suburb.
“It’s nice here. Must’ve been a big change when you moved from the States,” she said.
Simon pressed his lips together.
“You seem to like living here.” She turned to him. “Do you enjoy your work as a bodyguard?”
Could he really make small talk about his life right now, with her? “I do.” He hesitated, glancing her way. She looked genuinely interested. “Especially the new branch I’m helping build with the company. My specialty is actually reconnaissance, search and recovery, that kind of thing. Skills I picked up with the army.” He paused, that last comment hanging between them. After all, he’d joined the army to get away from her. A headstrong teenager determined to escape Miami, and with it the memories of Marianna Ruiz and the threats from her father. Instead of attending college like he’d planned, he’d sought the surest and quickest path away from his old life. “Anyway, I’m less of a bodyguard these days. I almost never do one-on-one security for high-end clients like this.” Simon gestured between the two of them.
“So, spending the night with female clients isn’t a regular part of your job?” she teased.
“No.” There was an edge to his voice. He didn’t regret the way his life had turned out, but the strangeness of talking to her about it wasn’t lost on him.
The car turned, heading along the road toward Bondi Beach, but Marianna wasn’t paying attention to the scenery anymore. She was looking right at him, her hazel eyes gray, so serious.
“Tell me what happened with my father,” she said after a while. “You promised back in the elevator.”
