Smitten (4 page)

She laughed. “Technically we are on your bed, not in it.”

“That’s something I’d be more than willing to remedy if you want.”

She continued to smile at me. “Pace yourself there
, killer. It’ll give you something to look forward to in the future.”

I chuckled and rolled her over,
bending to kiss her softly again. “I love you, Cami.”

There was a knock on the door. “
Dylan?” Chris’s voice came through and Cami stiffened.

I didn’t want to interrupt this moment with her. “Not now, Chris. We’ll be down in a couple of minutes,” I said turning my attention back to her.

“I’m sorry to . . . uh . . . disturb you, but it’s work. They’ve been trying to reach you.”

“It’s my day off. Take a message.” I kissed Cami’s lips again.

“They said it was an emergency. They want both of us to come in right now.”

I sighed heavily and sat up, kneeling beside her. “I’ll be right there,” I said, wishing I could stay with her. “I’m sorry about this,” I apologized as I got off the bed. I offered her my hand and pulled her after me.

“It’s all right. I understand.”

I bent to kiss her neck. “Please believe me when I say I’d rather be here with you than anywhere else.”

She smiled. “I know, but it sounds like they need you. I’m okay with that.”

I wanted to keep kissing her, but I made myself turn around and walk away, going over to where I’d dropped my wet clothes by the door. I quickly fumbled through my pants pockets.

“Here’re the keys to my apartment. I want you to take my Camaro. Go there and wait for me after dinner, okay? I still fully intend to finish our celebration together.”

She nodded and accepted the keys. “
Sounds great, but do I have to stay for dinner? It’ll be a little awkward for me without you and Chris here.”

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” I slipped a dry pair of shoes on and went into the bathroom to quickly comb my fingers through my damp hair, trying to straighten it. When I came out
, I found her holding our folded wet clothes in her arms. She’d slipped her shoes back on.

“I’ll wash these at your place,” she explained. “Sorry about your wallet.” She handed me the wet leather with my ID and money. “I’ll get you a new one.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said taking it and tucking it into my back pocket. “You ready to go?”

She nodded
, and we made our way downstairs, finding Chris and José waiting by the front door. José had apparently anticipated Cami leaving with me, because he held her purse in his hand.

“Please make our excuses to my parents and Sheridan,” I asked him as he handed Cami her bag.

“It was very nice meeting all of you,” Cami added. “I hope I’ll be able to come back soon.”

José smiled warmly at her. “I’m sure you will if
Dylan has anything to say about it.”

I grinned and shuttled her out the door. “Sorry to rush, José. Thanks for everything.”

“Be safe!” he called after us.

“I’ll see you later,” I whispered, giving Cami a quick kiss as I deposited her beside the Camaro. “I love you.”

“Love you too. Be careful.”

“I’ll call you as soon as I know what’s going on
, so you’ll know when to expect me.”

“Okay.” She watched me climb into Chris’s car before she turned to get into the Camaro.

“Sorry about this,” Chris said as he started the engine.

“Dude, don’t you know better than to answer your phone on your day off?” I grumbled as I slumped down into the seat. I glanced at Cami longingly as we drove past, knowing I wasn’t really mad a
t Chris because I would’ve done the same thing. “I hope this doesn’t take forever.”

Chapter Four

Hunter-

“We need you to go undercover again,” my police chief said, folding his arms across his broad chest as he leaned against the window in the interrogation room he’d pulled us into.

I gave a long drawn
-out sigh. “When?”

“Right now,” he replied seriously.

“No. Not a chance. I’m busy. Get Johnson or somebody to cover it,” I said referring to the other young cop my age on the force.

“
That’s why we need you. This is Johnson’s case. He’s been working on infiltrating a group of suspects and was supposed to make contact tonight. He’s in the hospital with acute appendicitis. We can’t mess this up and wait for him to get better. It’ll look too suspicious. We have to send someone else in.”

I wanted to bang my head against the table thinking about Cami waiting for me at home. “I don’t know anything about this case. I’d be walking in blind.”

“Another reason why we called you in. We’re going to prep you for the next three hours on the particulars and get you ready to go out and meet your new girlfriend.”

“Excuse me?” I said leaning forward to rest my arms against the table. “I like the girlfriend I have. She’s currently sitting in my house waiting for me to finish the romantic evening we had planned.”

Chief Robson had the decency to look apologetic. “I’m sorry to spring this on you, Wilcock, but we need you. You’ve already been undercover, so you know the drill, and you match the look we’re going for. We’ve been trying to get a lead on this case for a long time, and now we have an insider feeding us information.”

Chris interrupted.
“He’s only now been cleared after being shot. Do you think this is good timing for him?”

“We think it will lend credibility to his story, actually. We can fabricate something about him being involved in a shootout perhaps. It’ll make him look like he’s
already been in with a rough crowd.”

I knew the department had been really careful to keep my name and pictures out of the news when things had gone down with Clay in New Mexico. There was no reason for anyone in Arizona to know who I was, and I could see they weren’t going to let me out of this.

“What’s the case?” I asked with a defeated sigh.

“It’s actually a missing person
’s case; Manny Perez is the name. He worked for a local garage as a mechanic and tow truck guy. His partner on the job was Jack Rivera, also known as Ripper by his friends and the locals. Jack’s sister came forward and asked for help. She believes her brother may have killed Manny. They allegedly had a heated argument at work, and no one has seen him since.”

My first reaction was suspicion. “And why would she want to turn in her brother?”

“Manny was her boyfriend. She wants to find his killer.”

“And now I’m supposed to be her new boyfriend? Wouldn’t that seem a
bit callous of her?”

“Manny’s been missing for almost a year. There were no leads during the previous search for him
, and foul play was suspected because all of his belongings were still at home. He simply disappeared.

“Jack’s sister, Roberta Rivera, has recently come forward with information that her brother and Manny
organized a car theft conspiracy using the tow trucks from the auto body shop. They haul the stolen cars to an undisclosed location, chop them, and sell them for parts—unless they’re high-end vehicles. Those they’ve been reselling on the black market.

“Johnson
’s been building a relationship with her. They text regularly and have met a couple times, but he hasn’t been introduced to her brother yet. We want you to step in and take over where he left off—try to get in close with Jack, and see if you can gain any information about Manny. This car theft ring he’s got going on sounds like a lucrative operation and needs to be brought down too. The charges need to stick, so get all you can on Jack before we bring him in. Plus, it appears he could be the small guy at the bottom of a much bigger car ring. We’d like to see where he could lead us, if anywhere.”

“Sounds like a dangerous guy,” Chris added.

Chief Robson nodded. “I agree. You’re gonna need to watch your back, Wilcock. For the time being, we want you to cut all ties to your current life. No contacting your family, your girlfriend, or anyone who could make Jack suspicious of you. You’re going deep under. It’ll be safer for your friends and family this way.”

I clenched my jaw, not caring for this scenario at all. It was one thing to go undercover, another to completely abandon my life to do it. I didn’t say anything.

“Officer Napier, we have plans for you too,” he continued, looking at Chris. “We’re going to establish you as Dylan’s older foster brother who has a drug problem and issues with holding down a job. You’ll have a house in the general vicinity—it’s not going to be very pretty, I’m warning you. It’s far enough away to be out of Ripper’s social circle, but close enough for you to go back and forth. As far as your alias, you’ll be keeping your first name, but you’ll use the last name of Myers.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Chris said sarcastically.

“Well, it’ll be better for you than him,” the Chief responded, nodding toward me. “You’ll be able to check out often. He won’t.”

“How long is this supposed to
last?” I asked, wishing I could take something for my impending headache.

“As long as it takes. We need to bring this guy down.”

“Can I at least go home and tell my girlfriend what’s going on?”

He shook his head. “No, we need to finish
filling you in on all the particulars. We’ve got to make new identification, get you set up with the appropriate clothes, and into a new car.”

“A new car?”

“Another Camaro actually—one that was seized in a drug raid. We’ve changed the plates and registered it under a new name, but that’s when Johnson was working the case. He was using the name Gage Jackson.”

“Has this Roberta chick given
that alias out to anyone yet?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“Can you find out? Because if she hasn’t, I prefer using Hunter Wilder as my alias. It took me forever to get used to answering to it before. I’m comfortable with that name, and there shouldn’t be any issue using it again here in Arizona.”

“I’ll look into it and see what we can find out before you leave tonight.”

“Great.” I patted my pockets feeling for my phone before realizing I’d left it charging in the Camaro. “Hey Chris, can I borrow your phone?”

He reached into his pocket and tossed it to me.

“We need you now, Wilder. No time for phone calls. Make it fast.” Chief eyed me sternly.

I stared at the phone, hating the need to rush.
I quickly decided on a new plan, dialed a different number, and waited for an answer.

“Hey Russ,” I spoke when he answered. “I got a favor I need you to do.”

I pulled into the parking lot of the club called Racers and got out—being sure to arm the alarm system
. I paused to admire the vehicle in the dim lighting of the parking lot—cherry red with a black hood, spoiler, side skirts, and rims. Short, black, double racing stripes ran from the hood to the front tire well. The souped-up engine purred like a kitten and raced like a dream. I’d long been a fan of Camaros, but I was in love with this car already. I glanced around casually as I walked toward the building, knowing I was in the land of car thieves. I truly hoped no one would steal it before I got to enjoy it.

My transformation had been completed at the police station. I’d been given the phone Johnson had been using. My name, Hunter Wilder, had been programmed into it after my contact, Roberta, confirmed she hadn’t given the name of Gage to anyone yet. I wore black lace
-up work boots, covered by baggie tattered jeans, a belt cinched low on my hips so the top of my underwear showed if I lifted my shirt, as was the current fashion. A white wife-beater tank covered by an open black-and-gray plaid shirt with the short sleeves rolled a little to accentuate my biceps, completed the ensemble.

My left ear still throbbed a bit from the new piercing, and I now sported a small diamond stud. I wasn’t too thrilled about that, but apparently
, it was a detail Johnson had arranged with Roberta, so I had to comply. I grumbled internally. I sure hope the department appreciated all the crap I had to go through for them.

I flashed my new ID at the big
, burly bouncer who stood by the door. He was a scruffy looking tough guy, a combination of muscles and extra weight. I sized him up; figuring he could probably bulldoze me over in a heartbeat. He scrutinized my license carefully before looking back at me. “You new around here?”

I nodded. “Yep. Moved here a few weeks ago,” I said, falling back on my fabricated life story
, which had been drilled into me for the last several hours.

“Well, keep it clean
. We don’t want no troublemakers.” He handed me the card back.

“Not planning on making any trouble—just looking for
a hot woman, that’s all.” I flashed a knowing grin at him.

He didn’t smile. “You’ll find plenty of those in
there,” he said blandly, as if he were completely uninterested. It seemed he took his job very seriously. Good to know. The thumping music grew louder as he opened the door, allowing me to enter.

It took a second for me to quickly scan the layout of the place. The room was large and dark, lit mostly by the neon accents on the walls around the dance floor depicting racecars, checkered flags, and other racing paraphernalia.
Tables and u-shaped booths lined three of the walls, and the bar—which ran almost the entire length of the back wall—was a glowing, white surface with neon racing stripes along the side.

The place looked pretty packed.
Evidently they had a menu too, because there were several waitresses running around in different colors of extremely tight, low-cut jumpsuits, serving food and drinks to people.

I scanned the bar area looking for my contact, Roberta. I’d been told she’d be wearing jeans with a bright
-pink top and would have her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. I spotted her instantly, and was surprised no one had prepared me for how beautiful she was.

She
was sitting on a barstool, leaning back with her elbows on the bar as she faced the door. Observing her staring at me with a very pleased, appraising expression on her face—much like I was probably doing to her—I realized Cami would pitch a fit if she saw me with this girl. She wouldn’t like it at all, not that I liked it either.

This girl was a player, that much was evident from her trendy heels, super tight jeans, and handkerchief
-style shirt—its triangle covering the bare necessities in front. She turned and set her drink on the counter, briefly exposing her bare back with a couple crisscrossing ties before turning toward me. Her giant silver hoop earrings caught the light as she flipped the end of her long, sleek ponytail over her shoulder. 

Her figure was smoking,
and her face was gorgeous—big dark eyes, straight pretty nose, and full pouty lips. She wore a lot more makeup than Cami, but it was tasteful enough and highlighted her features well.

I smiled
as I would if I were seeing someone I already knew, and she returned the gesture, adding a flirty wave of her fingers. I sauntered across the room toward her, feeling sick about the role I knew I had to play. Cami was supposed to be the girl wrapped in my arms tonight. Now I didn’t even know when I’d see her again. Hopefully, this case would end quickly.

“Hey, baby. You’re looking pretty hot,” I said as I sidled up beside her
, leaned in, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

The girl next to her turned and stared at me
, her mouth open in awe. “Is this the guy you’ve been keeping under wraps, Roberta?” she asked, barely blinking as her gaze wandered over me.

“This is him. Hunter Wilder, meet my friend, Cherise.” Roberta smiled and slid her arms possessively around my waist
, and I slipped mine loosely around her shoulders.

“Nice to meet you,” I said with a polite nod in the direction of her cute blonde friend.

“No wonder you’ve been hiding him! Shoot, I’d never get out of bed if I were dating him! Why are you even here?”

Wow, this girl was forward.

Roberta laughed casually. “You rarely get out of bed anyway.” Even her voice was sexy. I bet she had guys constantly clamoring all over her. I loved the way she’d managed to turn the conversation back around on her friend.

Cherise shrugged and looked at me hungrily. “What can I say? I like sleeping in after work
 . . . and other things.”

“Let’s dance,” Roberta said, reaching for my hand. She dragged me out to the crowded floor. I shot Cherise a grin and followed dutifully after Roberta. Her heels made her significantly taller, but
still she was a couple inches shorter than my shoulder.

When she reached a spot big enough for us
, she faced me, stepping so close I could feel the heat from our bodies mingling together. She popped up on her tiptoes and spoke in my ear.