Beautiful Bounty (The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros. Book 1) (6 page)

Down boy, he cautioned himself as he took one more look at those incredible thighs.  The girl must run, or do a lot of hiking. He remembered her telling him last year that she was studying forestry and environmental sciences.  She was a tomboy, she had joked.  She sure as hell didn’t look like one. Not in that mini skirt, and silky rust tank top that didn’t leave much to the imagination.

Shaking his head, he started the engine, and the car rumbled to life. He loved the power of this car, and how it felt to drive it.  He backed up, turned out of the lot, and in a few more turns he was on Nebraska Avenue headed down State Road 41 to her mom’s house in Spring Hill. It was about an hour’s drive. He could have taken the shorter route on the Suncoast Highway, but he wanted the extra twenty minutes with her. He wanted to learn some things about Miss Sears that he hadn’t been able to last summer. His brothers told him to gather as much information as he could about her in case she ran.

Even though she was technically a friend of the family, they were still running a business. They always kept a close eye on all their clients, and did their research. Business was business.  But given the state of their previous relationship, he figured he needed to soften her up a bit first.  She wouldn’t be very willing to confide in him so easily. So talking about himself first might make the transition smoother.

“My brothers helped me to build this car, put it back together, get it running, and we restored it to its original glory,” he offered. When she made no reply and only stared ahead stonily he added, “My father bought it for me as an early graduation gift a year before both my parents were killed.” He saw out of the corner of his eye that she sat up a bit straighter, and she turned to him slightly.  She was listening. “Yeah, so it’s not a toy to me.  Just saying,” he gave her a sideways smile.  She gave him a small one in return so he continued.  “My dad and I bought the car together when I was sixteen.  We got the motor working but that was about it.  Then he died.”

She cleared her throat before speaking.  She felt guilty for her earlier callous remark.  “I’m sorry about your parents.  Was it a car accident?” He mentioned them dying and wondered how.

“No, murder actually,” he said nonchalantly.

“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed.  “I had no idea. I am so sorry.”

He saw the sympathy in her eyes and a tell-tale guilty blush.  He shocked her by sharing this information.  Her arms relaxed though, and she was wringing her hands in her lap.

“Thanks.  It was a long time ago. My dad was a cop, just like my brothers. And I was going to be a cop too, but they pushed me into going into forensic sciences. I had the grades for it, and got a scholarship and all.  But after graduation, I went into the police academy anyway.”

“You were a cop? All of you? How’d you all end up in Florida?” Ronnie asked with curiosity. Last summer, she assumed he was just a playboy who worked for his brothers in the family business.  Interesting, there was more to this man than she thought.

“Yeah, for a while we were. My oldest brothers wanted out. They both wanted out of New York and were tired of the job. Blaze had just gone through a tough break up. I didn’t want to go, but hell they were all going, so here I am,” he answered her questions.

“Did they ever catch the person who killed your parents? If you don’t mind my asking?” she asked tentatively.

Nikko didn’t answer right away.  He took a moment to compose his thoughts.  “Hmm, well, no actually. He’s still out there. Somewhere. Andreas hasn’t given up. He never will. He got a few notes from him that first year, but then the case went cold.”  He paused and she watched his hands caress the steering wheel lost in thought. “He was a serial killer, a case of my brother’s.  The guy, he was the Rosedale Romeo.”

Ronnie nodded as her heart rate picked up. She remembered hearing that name on the news when she was just a kid.

“Oh my god,” she whispered.

He continued. “He came after our family because Andreas got too close to him. He took it personally. When Andy figured out who the guy was, the manhunt was on. They decided to release his name to the press and splash pictures of him all over the news, so there wouldn’t be any more victims.  The police descended on his family and the guy had nowhere to run. His name was Salvatore Erickson. The dude’s wife said she didn’t know anything. She was shocked that her husband had this secret life. Said she had no clue what a monster he was. Andreas believed her.  The man was seriously twisted. She was put into protective custody, given a new name, a new life.  They had kids and she took them too.  They were all in hiding.  Salvatore had no one else.  He was furious.  He was pissed at Andreas and blamed him for ruining his life.  Not because he was a sick bastard who liked to torture and mutilate girls, but because he blamed Andreas for destroying his family.”

Nikko paused again in his tale, and Ronnie waited patiently for him to continue. She didn’t want to push, but she was definitely intrigued. She never would have guessed Nikko faced so much pain and horror so young.

He eventually spoke after glancing her way once seeing her waiting. “For a year, the trail was cold. A few notes promising revenge.” He shook his head and she saw the cold look that crossed his face. “I was the only one still living at home at the time. I snuck out with my buddies one night and when I got home, I found them.”

“Oh, how horrible!” Ronnie’s hands flew to her mouth as she gasped.

“Yeah, it was pretty bad. I didn’t want to go to school after that.  Just wanted to finish the car that my dad and I started. But, Andreas moved back home. My other brother’s lived in the city.  Andreas was a detective, Gio had made detective too.  Blaze was in law school. He did the police academy later. Like me. They promised to help me finish the car as long as I kept going to school. Each weekend one of them would work on it with me.”

His voice sounded rough. She felt her own throat tighten, thick with emotion for him.

“You’re close to your brothers,” she commented to ease the tension in the car.

“Yes, I am,” he stated.  “They’re pretty much all I got.”

Ronnie nodded sympathetically. Her family was small too. And she cherished each one of them.

“How about you Ronnie? Got much family?” he asked, giving her a small smile and then he returned his focus to the road.

“Small too.  It was just me and my mom, growing up.  My grandparents are great; my granddad is one of my best friends.  I have an uncle too, but he is somewhat of a recluse.”

“My grandparents on both sides died long ago. I don’t remember them,” he told her. “I do have an aunt. My mom’s sister, and a cousin too. Victor.”

“Yes, Monica’s husband.”  Memories of the wedding popped into her head.  She couldn’t find it in her to be mad at the moment.  Not after all he revealed.  “Monica and Ana grew up with my mom. So, they are like aunts to me. I love them a lot.”

“I could tell you were close,” he added.  When they both remained silent for a while he decided to forge ahead.  “What are your grandparents like?  I don’t remember much of mine. Always thought it would be cool to have them around.”

Ronnie couldn’t suppress a small laugh. She had never known her father. Her grandfather had been the one to fill those shoes. Her granddad was the best. “I love my granddad. He did lots with me. I was his constant companion, he was my babysitter, and I followed him everywhere. He used to tease me all the time too. He’d call out for me like I wasn’t in the room, and then he would lift his shoe. I guess I was always underfoot,” she used air quotes to emphasize her meaning.  Nikko smiled and waited for her to continue.  “He’s the reason I studied forestry and the environment.  While mom worked he would take me into the woods.  We would walk, hike, fish, ride motorbikes.  On the weekends we would go camping at his fish camp,” Ronnie reminisced.

“He still alive?”

“Yes, both my grandparents and my uncle.  They still live in Maine, in Presque Isle, about two and half hours from where I went to school in Bangor.”

“That’s nice that they were close,” he offered.

“Yeah,” Ronnie whispered and got quiet.

After a minute or so, he tried another avenue to get her talking again.  “For the record, Ronnie, I feel bad for you and this situation.”

“I don’t need your sympathy,” she muttered, stone faced. Her thoughts turned to her grandparents and how disappointed they must be.

Okay, he thought, what next?  Another minute passed, and he hadn’t thought of another way to get her to open up, so he decided to finish telling her about how they ended up in Florida.

“So earlier I was telling you why we came to Florida” he started.  She looked at him blankly and he just continued.  “I graduated with my forensics degree and Blaze decided to do the police academy. So we both did that together.  As soon as we got out, and started looking for work, my brother Andreas announced that he had enough of New York, and that he and Gio were moving to Florida. My mom’s sister and my cousin Victor lived here. They are pretty much the only family we had, so me and Blaze decided to come along for the ride.  Blaze and I did about a year on the force.  We were partners.  Then, we moved here. That was two years ago,” he finished.

“Oh,” she muttered.  “Interesting.”

Again the silence. Ronnie was lost in her thoughts again. Well, he had gotten some information from her. He didn’t think she would run, but any info he could get would be useful if she did.  They rode in silence for a few more minutes when he heard the strangest sound.  He looked at his console. Nothing appeared out of order.

He looked to Ronnie to see if she had heard it. She was squirming uncomfortably in her seat. He looked at his gauges again, nothing was going on there, and then he heard it again. It was definitely coming from her side of the car. He looked at her. She was pink faced.

“Um, was that you?” he asked tentatively.

He heard her sigh, and she covered her face with her hands in embarrassment and just nodded. He was confused as hell.  And just kept looking her way, and then the sound came again. Louder.

“Well, what is it?” he asked, completely dumbfounded.

She shook her head in humiliation.  “Believe it or not, that is my stomach growling.  Prison food is not the greatest, and I hardly ate anything these last two days.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so,” he replied, let out a sigh that nothing was wrong with his baby, and began to laugh.

“It’s not funny,” she pouted. 

When her lower lip jutted out like that, he had the sudden urge to lean over suck it into his mouth, and kiss those lips. “Well first I thought something was wrong with my car, but if you’re
that
hungry, I could just pull over and we could grab a bite. There’s tons of good places to eat along this road.”

“No thank you,” she replied tartly.  “Just get me home to my mom.”

“Fine!” Women, he thought. He just didn’t get them.  If you are hungry, you eat. He drove on in silence, but not for long.

Her stomach was practically speaking. He just shook his head when he saw her place her hands over her offending organ. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to get home to her mom, but something also told him, probably her tone, that she didn’t want to spend any more time in his company than she had to.  And, that bothered him.

When her stomach rumbled again he just had to ask, “You sure?”

One of Nikko’s eyebrows arched up. And, Ronnie was hungry. There was no denying that. Her damn stomach betrayed her every chance it got. The advertisements along the road were just about killing her. But she had no choice. It was look at them or look at him.  And damn him for looking so good in his white dress shirt, and dark slacks.  He had taken his jacket off, and the tailored shirt fit him like a glove. The muscles bulging in his biceps as he handled the car smoothly was pure torture. She looked away from him, but could still feel his eyes on her. “Yes, now just drive!” she snapped, her eyes flashing his way, chest heaving in her sudden anger at him.

His eyes watched those breasts for a second too long.  She noticed him staring and crossed her arms in front of them again and looked out of the side passenger window avoiding him.

“Okay,” he growled.  They drove a few more minutes in silence, her stomach occasionally reminding him of her hunger. Sometimes softly, other times fiercely.

They were half way to Spring Hill and he was looking at all the restaurants they were passing letting her stew in silence.  The more places he passed and signs he read, he began to realize he was hungry too, and not just for the delectable little morsel by his side.

They passed several places advertising seafood, and barbecue.  Popular choices in this area. He hadn’t eaten much for breakfast, and it was past three in the afternoon now.  He could use a bite, and that might also give him some more time with Ronnie. To question her, and maybe get a little more information.

They were stopped at a light.  “Mmm,” he teased.  “That place looks good.” He pointed at the sign advertising fresh seafood.  Ronnie, couldn’t help herself and looked. Her stomach growled in response. Nikko laughed, and lowered his window hoping beyond hope the smell of the place would reach them.  The light turned green and he had to continue, but he left his window down just in case the aroma could entice her.

At the next stoplight there was a restaurant, well more like a shack along the side of the road. It was called Big Jimbo’s Barbecue with a sign advertising all you can eat ribs.  The aroma was pungent, sweet and tangy.  He looked at her and gave her a conniving smile. Her stomach growled so loud it nearly surpassed the sound of his engine.

The barbecue did her in.  “Pull over, asshole!” She gave him her dirtiest look.  “And, you’re buying!” she added for good measure when he burst out laughing and pulled into the parking lot of Big Jimbo’s Barbecue.