Loving a Bad Boy (13 page)

Her stomach dropped. Oh
hell. What
had
she gotten into? Should she call Mike? She and the
investigator had become friends of a sort.

“
Where is Tex?” the voice
growled, his impatience thrummed through the line.

“
On the floor.” She spoke
without thinking. There was a discernible pause.

“
The floor?”

Pam wasn’t fooled by the silkiness of his
voice. She had already heard, and if she wanted to be honest –
felt, his menacing tone earlier. This man was totally different
from easy-going Tex. Or at least the Tex she ate dinner with. Birds
of a feather? God, she hoped not. All she had done was open the
door and take care of her occasional Sunday dinner guest. Now the
devil had come knocking.

Sighing, she wrapped her arm around her
waist and closed her eyes. Today had certainly started raggedy and
she didn’t see it getting better any time soon. Resigned that this
was the person Tex wanted to care for him, she tempered her tone
and started over. “Look, he told me to punch in the number one on
his phone; but things got a little out of hand for a while and I
didn’t get around to calling you. Sorry about that, but—”

“
Who am I speaking
to?”

“
Pam, I'm a neighbor of
Tex’s. I live on the—”

“
Fifth floor. Yeah, I
know. Why is he on
your
floor?” His entire tone changed. He sounded
genuinely curious. Perhaps he was a friend after all.

“
I needed him stretched
out to stop the bleeding. He refused to go to the
hospital—”

“
Bleeding? What happened
to him?”

Pam bit back the urge to snap at his
rudeness. “If you let me finish a sentence, I can tell you what I
know,” she bit out and waited. When he said nothing, she told him
everything that had happened up until he called.

There was silence on the other end of the
phone. For a moment, she thought he had hung up. “Hello?”

“
I’m still
here.”

“
Look, it’s late and I
need to get a few things done before tomorrow. Well, it’s already
tomorrow. How soon can the doctor get here? Like I said, I only
stopped the bleeding.” Exhaustion weighed her down. Her eyeballs
hurt and she needed to clean the blood from her skin.

“
Within the hour. Thank
you for your help.”

“
Just so you know, if
there is no licensed physician here within an hour, I
am
calling for an
ambulance. I’m not losing my license behind this.” She held her
breath as the quiet lengthened.

“
Understood.” He clicked
off the phone.

Tired beyond what she could vocalize, she
collapsed onto a nearby chair and stared at Tex. “What have you
done, young man?” she murmured. Her mind raced over all the time
they’d spent together eating and talking, and she couldn’t fathom
him doing anything… criminal. With the exception of sexing her
niece six ways til Sunday, according to Tara anyway, before moving
on, he’d been nice and laidback.

“
So…someone shot you?” she
asked his quiet form. “Did you do something illegal? Something
that’s going to come back to bite me in the ass?”

Sighing, she straightened in the chair and
looked up at the globe light fixture above her head. “Of course
this is going to bite me in the ass. Things always come back at
me.” She shook her head thinking of her brother’s tirade over
Tara’s falling grades. It wasn’t her fault that Tara wasn’t living
up to his ideal.

A knock sounded on her door. The second one
in one, no, make that two hours, she corrected, glancing at the
wall clock. Drained, she dragged herself through the living room to
the front door. She peered through the peep-hole, even though she
was sure the person on the other side was the man from the phone.
Had it been five minutes? Ten? All she saw was the back of his dark
suit. Pissed at him for his earlier rudeness, she snatched open the
door, and filled the doorway. “Yes?” she said in her most
uninviting tone.

He turned.

The sharp words she’d planned to say died
the instant her eyes met his. Her stomach fell in recognition of
the tall Latino hunk she had been fantasizing over for the past
months. Figures, after all her dreaming about him, he’d see her at
her worst. Her hand itched to smooth out her hair and pull the
wrinkles out of her top. But it was too late to change her
appearance.

At any other time she’d pretend not to eat
him up with her eyes. But not tonight. She was too tired, plus
after he removed Tex, she’d never have another shot at being this
close to him. So she took her time assessing him with female
appreciation. The deep furrow between his brows and clenched jaw
didn’t detract one iota from his handsomeness.

“
I’m here for Tex.” His
deep voice snapped her out of an embarrassing daydream in which he
did all types of delicious things to her body. Did he have to dash
her hopes by claiming Tex was his only reason for stopping at her
door? Besides, the way he talked sounded as though he had a warrant
for her neighbor or something.

Straightening to her full five feet, four
inches, she returned his stare. “And you are?”

He stiffened and straightened as well.
“Julio Cardenas.” His tone took on an arctic chill.

She frowned, trying to remember what Tex had
said. “Julio. He said to call Julio for him. Come in.” She moved
back to get away from the cold fury that whipped from his utterance
of those two words.

Julio Cardenas… that’ll be easy to
remember.

He nodded and took two precise steps inside,
and closed the door behind him. His penetrating gaze held her
hostage for another moment while she desperately tried to inhale
more oxygen into her lungs.

His eyes flicked around
the room as though he expected someone to jump out at him or
something. Intrigued, she watched as he moved around her living
area, checked the windows, looked outside on her patio, and checked
the patio door before returning to her side.
What the hell was going on?

Rather than ask, she exhaled and looked
toward the kitchen, hoping he’d take the hint and go to Tex.
Anything was better than looking directly at him. Well, not while
he looked at her, anyway. She stole covert glances of him. The cut
of his dark suit was impeccable. The creases were sharp, the cuffs
fell just right on his shined shoes, and his coat fit the width of
his broad shoulders. Dark wavy hair brushed past his collar and lay
obediently against the top of his back. His shirt was a crisp sky
blue, open at the neck. Julio Cardenas was a yummy dish that she’d
love to sample.

He turned and walked toward the kitchen. His
movements were quick without appearing rushed. As her heartbeat
normalized, it occurred to her that she had just allowed a stranger
into her home. Not only that, she was in her blood-splattered
nightgown.

Chapter 8

Julio stared down at the woman from the
elevator. Pam. Tex had told him her name one night after returning
from dinner with her thinking he’d never met her. Julio’s
investigation of her had filled in the rest of the blanks.

Pamela Burrows was an interesting woman. She
scored high for med school but chose to become a nurse. Exemplary
grades were probably the reason he found very little social
information on her. For a twenty-five year old woman, she hadn’t
had that many men in her life. That tidbit of information pleased
him. She had Bahamian roots. Her father lived on Exuma, her mother
died when she was a young girl. Some relative raised her in
Miami.

The thing that baffled him most was her
choice to work with people who were dying. That had to be the most
depressing work around, yet she seemed vibrant, upbeat.

He remembered her face when the older woman
had accused him, rightly of course, of watching her ass. She’d been
embarrassed, but not angry at the old bird. In the end she laughed
when he admitted to watching her perfect globes. She got along well
with people and didn’t seem to take things too seriously.

She didn’t fit into any of the groups of
women he’d been interested in before, and yet he was inexplicably
drawn to her. Based on his findings, she wouldn’t be overly
impressed with his position in the Cartel, any power he wielded, or
his money. While she wasn’t filthy rich, she lived comfortably and
appeared content.

Most of the women he knew wanted something
from him. Trips, cars, expensive jewelry, or more of his time. They
were shallow and understood the score. The woman standing before
him had little in common with those women. First off, none of them
would’ve inspired Tex to trust them with his life. Secondly, she
had a large compassionate heart for the underdog. She was probably
a bleeding liberal, who’d feed the hungry and take care of the sick
for free. He made a mental note to offer her something in exchange
for her services. He didn’t want her to see him as a charity
case.

Unfortunately for his rising wood, she was
not the type to agree on a one night stand. Whereas that should’ve
dampened his interest, it did the complete opposite.

In his thirst for knowledge about her, he
became ensnared at the simplicity of her life and choices. Pam
Burrows was a nurturer. She gave a hundred percent to everything
she did. As far as he knew, she never requested anything of his
friend other than friendship. And in their line of work, that was
as valuable as a truckload of gold.

Dark strands of hair were loosed all over
her head. The nightshirt she wore had splotches of blood all over
it. The droop of her shoulders and the bags beneath her eyes
screamed exhaustion. Yet she stood boldly in the doorway, blocking
his entrance. His mother was the only woman who’d ever stepped up
to him like that. The challenge she presented pleased him.

He wondered just how far would she go to
protect Tex? Loyalty was as rare as true love. Not everyone
experienced it. Her devotion to his fallen friend sent a streak of
pleasure through him. It solidified what he’d already decided a
month ago, when she'd literally bumped into him in the elevator one
night.

His cock hardened uncomfortably in
remembrance. She’d been in her work clothes and not paying
attention while backing into the elevator. He could’ve moved to
give her more room, but he wanted to feel her against him. When her
ass connected with his upper thighs, he realized he’d miscalculated
how badly he wanted her. His reaction was totally inappropriate
then, and now.

Earlier, when she'd asked
his name, he’d recoiled. He hadn’t meant to sound cold, but it
stung. For months he’d been learning everything about her, and she
hadn’t been interested enough to check him out.
Soon
, he promised silently, she
would know more than his name. But first, he needed to secure
Tex.

She frowned as though concentrating. “Julio.
He said to call Julio for him.” The look she gave him clearly said
she did not understand why.

His lips curled as he took a step forward.
She backed up and turned to the side. “Come in.” He ignored the
sarcasm in her voice and walked forward. Immediately he checked for
foul play. Not that he suspected her per se, but his man had been
attacked nearby, which meant he needed to amp up security. Even
now, there were men stationed outside her unit and upstairs as an
added safety measure.

Confident that all was as it appeared, he
caught her glance toward the hall. There was one light on and he
followed the glow, stopping at the kitchen entrance. His gaze
locked on the man stretched out on the floor. The tide of anger he
had been holding in check rose without restraint as he took in the
blood-stained bandage on Tex’s side.

For hours he had been in a meeting which had
netted meager results, while his friend had been shot and bleeding.
Personal injury and death was a liability that came along with the
job, but none of Julio’s team had ever been hurt before, until
now.

Jaw clenched, he refrained from yelling his
rage. It would do no good. Tex would be the first one to tell him
that.

Think! Who the hell would attack his man? To
attack Tex was to attack him, and that shit never flew. Not on the
best day. Someone had just signed their death warrant. Not only
theirs, but also those closest to them. He brushed his pocket,
comforted by his piece of steel equalizer. Hell yeah, someone would
pay for this infraction. The thought calmed him somewhat.

He snatched out his cell and punched in a
number. When it was answered, he spoke of his displeasure and
retribution in rapid Spanish. Although it was unlikely Pam
understood his native language, at this point, he didn’t care. He
needed this outlet or he would explode.