Adrienne Giordano

by Relentless Pursuit

  Did she dare believe it? How many times had she been in this situation with Jess? And how many times had she been disappointed? No thank you, Billy Tripp, she’d learned all she wanted to about meaningless apologies.

  “What exactly are you sorry for?”

  If he could answer this one, she might believe him. After all, Jess was always sorry, but it was for the wrong reasons. Her apologies stemmed from being forced to make amends rather than owning up to her mistake.

  Or hurting someone.

  “Plain and simple,” Billy said, “I screwed up by busting out the big guns with the Jess comment.”

  Just like that. No justifying. No excuses. No trying to convince her he was right. Just a simple admission of his wrongdoing. Blasted luck. All she wanted was to stay mad at him longer. To let him know he couldn’t treat her poorly and not pay a price. And now, with him apologizing, he’d taken all the steam out of this engine of anger she had going. How could she have let that happen?

  She scrunched her nose. “I hate you, Billy Tripp.”

  To add to her misery, he leveled one of his playful, devastating grins on her. Bastard.

  “Oh, M.H., I don’t believe that.”

  She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms in a futile attempt to stay angry. Why did he have to be so good-looking? And when he smiled, his good-lookingness got worse.

  He stepped to the desk, held out his hand. “Am I forgiven?”

  Too damned handsome for his own good. Or hers, depending on how she looked at it. “Don’t ever use my hot spots to satisfy your need for a rush. It’s hurtful and tiring and intolerable. Do it again and whatever this is, is over. Got it?”

  Still holding his hand to her, he nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She smacked at his hand. “You’re forgiven. But I’m not ready to hold your hand.”

  Not one word about it had better come out of his mouth either. She’d decide how long it would take to let him touch her again.

  “How’s the arm?”

  “Eh, no big deal.”

  Manny strode through the door. “Hi, Mr. Billy.”

  Here, at least, was one male who had never disappointed her.

  “Boy Wonder, what’s up?”

  “Can I help?”

  Billy laughed. “You don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “I don’t care. It’s always cool.”

  Kristen had to smile. A whopper of hero worship going on there. But after the gator attack, she couldn’t have Manny hanging out with Billy. Inside the hotel might be okay, but never outside. Manny could get hurt.

  “I got a good project for you,” Billy said. “I have a list of hotel guests I need you to look at and tell me which ones are staying longer than say three or four days. Can you do that for me?”

  He bobbed his head. “Yeah. I can do it. Cool.”

  A good compromise. Manny could help him while staying safely inside the hotel and not at Billy’s side.

  Another smidge of her anger slipped away. The jerk can’t even let me stay mad at him.

  The boys traded fist bumps. “I need to talk to Miss Kristen. Wait for me outside.”

  After Manny stepped out and closed the office door, Kristen said, “Well played.”

  He shrugged. “Figured it’s not safe for him to be following me around. I’ll have him go through your guest list, find out who the long term ones are and note the ones who drive high-end cars. If nothing else, we can secure them.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Are we okay?”

  She nodded. “Mostly. You need to control that mouth, Billy. Jess is still my sister. We may not like each other at times, but I love her and want the best for her.”

  “Message received.” The idiot dropped to his knees and threw himself onto his side. “Thank you,” he wailed. “Thank you.”

  And once again, he’d made her laugh when all she wanted was to throttle him.

  He popped to his feet again, straightened his T-shirt and held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor. I’m on it.”

  “That’s all I ask. And you’re buying me dinner later.”

  “Works for me. Will you eat? And I don’t mean salad.”

  She swallowed. “I’ll find something I can eat.”

  “Let’s make it casual. You’ll eat and then we’ll walk on the beach so you aren’t beating yourself up over having a pinhead’s worth of red meat. Will that work?”

  She’d already walked once today, but the idea of eating meat with dinner—steak perhaps—made her mouth water. Another sunset walk would be a pleasure after this bombing of a day. “Yes. We’ll eat at the café overlooking the beach.”

  “I thought they only served breakfast and lunch?”

  “They do. But the general manager can have dinner served anywhere she likes. And tonight she wants to have a quiet dinner with a guy who sometimes makes her crazy.”

  “Go, Billy,” he said.

  “Blue cheese burger? Steak? What?”

  “The burger. Make it two.”

  “You eat like a dinosaur. How do you not get fat?”

  He shrugged. “I work out. A lot. Tomorrow morning, I’ll get my ass out of bed and go for a run. Usually I’ll lift, but not with this banged up arm. I’m telling you, M.H., start packing the protein and get some exercise. You’ll lose weight.”

  She thought about it. Never had she even sampled one of the chef’s renowned blue cheese burgers. Not even a morsel. The fat in the blue cheese alone could send her into a psychotic break. “Will you split one of your burgers with me? I won’t eat the bun. Just the burger. I’m dying to try one.”

  Billy smacked his hands together. “Perfect. Have half the burger and a boring-ass side salad and you’re good to go.”

  “Then we’ll walk after dinner. I won’t feel guilty about the fat if we walk.”

  “Sure, but I’m gonna make you move. No casual strolling. After you start sweating, then we’ll stroll.”

  She nodded. Could she actually be excited about this? Yes. Definitely. She’d get to eat a burger. Not to mention the date with the hot guy.

  An evening that sounded like perfection.

  * * *

  After replacing his trashed phone with a shiny new one, Billy sat in the executive conference room studying his notes. Manny had left with his mother, but had provided a neatly handwritten list of current guests who would be staying longer than one week. It was a start.

  Each of those guests with high-end cars would be asked to move them to a predetermined spot near the front of the hotel. Billy would then suggest Kristen put a guard on them 24-7 until he figured out who was running the fudging theft ring.

  He went back to his laptop and the report detailing the owners of the residences Alex had visited since Billy put the GPS on him. He’d just go through each name and see if anything popped. Then he’d cross-reference it with all the hotel employees to see if there were any matches.

  Kristen appeared in the doorway wearing a devastating red wrap dress that made him want to beg for mercy.

  “And aren’t you making my heart go pitter-patter.”

  “Ready for dinner?”

  Dinnertime already? Damn, he’d forgotten to set an alarm on the new phone and lost track of time. Crap. “Smoking dress, M.H.”

  She folded her arms. He’d gone too far.

  He tore his gaze away. “Sorry.”

  When he averted his eyes, she dropped her arms.

  “Are you ready for dinner?” she asked again.

  “Not quite. I’m processing here and I don’t want to lose my momentum. Fifteen minutes?”

  “Sure. What are you working on?”

  “The report of all the places Alex visited. Why don’t you look with me? See if anything pops.”

  M.H. stepped into the room, the devastating red dress clinging to every blazing inch of her as she moved toward him. Jesus, this woman would kill him yet, but he’d never tire of this feeling. That alone was a major change in his way of thinking.
>
  She stood next to him and placed one hand on the back of his chair. The lavender scent of her perfume drifted around him. Nice.

  She studied the laptop screen. “These are the names?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t recognize any of them. For the company names, do you know who the registered agents are?”

  “No.”

  “That’s what you need. The company names mean nothing. Registered agents handle receipt of all tax and legal documents for the corporation within its jurisdiction. If the owners of the dealerships lived out of state, they could be clueless about the workings of their own businesses.”

  Holding up a finger, Billy said, “Good thought.”

  Three minutes and fifty-nine bucks later, thanks to the wonders of the internet, Billy logged into a handy-dandy database of registered agents in Florida. Piece of cake. He and Kristen made a damned good team.

  Now the boring as hell part of this operation started, because he had to search every business old Alex visited.

  “Start with the car dealerships,” Kristen said.

  He grinned up at her. “That’s what I was thinking. See? You read my mind. We’re perfect for each other.”

  “Billy, reading your mind could be dangerous. And exhausting.”

  “Wha, wha.”

  She laughed as he typed the name of the Jaguar dealership into the database and scanned the corporation details. Kristen leaned forward, her upper body just to the left of his sightline. Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look. So what if her dress was hanging down enough for him to get a peek at the rack. Fight it.

  “Owner,” he said, way too loud, and Kristen jumped.

  “I’m standing right here, you don’t have to yell.”

  “It’s the fudging filter!”

  “What?”

  He paddled his hand toward her chest. “When you leaned over, the top of your dress opened.” He held up his hands, but turned his head away. “I didn’t look. That’s all I’m saying. I fought the urge. It’s taxing. On many levels.”

  Kristen rolled her lips in.

  Now she’s laughing.

  Billy grunted. “You’re always telling me to filter. It went against every fiber of my being, but I did it. And it sucked. Really? All I want is to stare at your tits. That’s all I’m saying.”

  He went back to the laptop.

  Ignore the woman in the hot red dress.

  “Owner,” he said again. “RDM Auto Group.” He made a note of the name and slapped his pen on the table.

  Kristen touched his shoulder and he glanced up. “Thank you for filtering.”

  And then she placed those beautiful hands of hers against the neckline of the devastating wrap dress, opening it enough to give him a preview of lush cleavage and a black and red lace bra.

  Billy whistled low, swiveled in the chair and stared. Yes, stared. And she didn’t flinch. He did notice the settling breath she needed to take, but she was handling it. He wasn’t the only one trying here.

  “Thank you. I want to do amazing things to you. Naked. With the lights on.”

  Thinking about that wouldn’t do him one damned bit of good. She wasn’t ready. Not when she had to mentally prepare herself to show him a miniscule bit of cleavage. How flipping ironic. Most women took one look at him and made a dash to get naked. Kristen? She was terrified. His rotten luck.

  “Let’s focus here.” He went back to the laptop. “Leave the dress open though. Please.”

  “Whatever you say, Billy.”

  “Oh, that’s funny. We got the Jaguar dealership here. Registered agent…Bradley J. Murphy. Recognize the name?”

  “No.”

  He wrote down the name. Bradley J. would get his own search.

  Next up, the BMW dealership. Owner: MDR Auto.

  Hang on. He double-checked the name of the Jaguar dealership. RDM Auto Group.

  Ding.

  Ding.

  Ding.

  Those names were awfully similar.

  “Tell me Bradley J. is the registered agent,” Kristen said.

  Billy scanned the file. “Registered agent is Donovan Archer.”

  Fudgenuts.

  He glanced up. “Recognize it?”

  “No. Let’s do a search on both names. Maybe they’re connected somehow.”

  His fingers flying over the keyboard he typed Bradley J.’s name into the search box.

  Lawyer. Employed by Smith, Kline, Abrams and Associates. Billy wrote the firm’s name down. “Recognize it?”

  “It’s a large firm in Miami. Mostly corporate stuff. Check the other name.”

  He typed in Donovan Archer.

  Lawyer.

  Employed by—thank you—Smith, Kline, Abrams and Associates.

  “There’s our connection, Billy.”

  “Okay, boys. What the hell are you up to?”

  Billy did a search on Smith, Kline, Abrams and found a website. And an About Us page. With photos. He glanced at the image of Bradley J. on the screen and almost pissed himself.

  He’d have to double-check it against the photo he took, but… “I think he’s one of the guys Alex met with that first day I followed him.” Billy turned back to M.H. “Do you recognize him?”

  “No.”

  Billy sat back and the chair rocked with the movement. He tapped his fingers over his mouth while analyzing the face of Bradley J. Murphy. “Registered agent for the Jag dealership.”

  “And?”

  “Not only is another lawyer at the firm the registered agent for the BMW dealership, but the names of each corporation are similar.” He glanced at his notes. “The BMW shop is owned by MDR Auto. The Jag dealership is owned by RDM Auto Group.”

  “So,” she said, sidling up next to him to look at the laptop, “maybe the dealerships are owned by the same person, but he has two different registered agents to make it look like different corporations?”

  Hot and smart. “Exactly what I’m thinking.”

  “And you think these registered agents are meeting with Alex and then reporting back to the owner?”

  Billy pursed his lips. “Possibly. Or the owner is in the dark while Bradley J. and his coworker are running a car theft ring through his dealership.” An international one. Voicing that suspicion would require him to tell her about the shed incident and most likely, he’d get in trouble for keeping it from her. Maybe it was time to tell her? Just come clean. Would it help matters? Or worry her? He didn’t know.

  Right or wrong, he’d keep quiet and deal with the consequences later. She might never have to know about the beefheads.

  Kristen propped her hip against Billy’s chair and it shifted an inch. “Very interesting.”

  There she stood, the devastating red dress open at the top, the black and red lace bra pretty much flipping him the bird. His punishment for not telling her about the shed. Had to be. What a life. He grabbed her arm and guided her down to his lap. She didn’t resist. Progress. Finally, he wrapped his hand around her neck and dropped a lip-lock. This, he knew, she enjoyed because she’d always been a willing participant.

  “Do you feel dirty?” he asked, nipping her lower lip.

  “What?”

  “Maybe you need a shower? In the dark?”

  She laughed and dropped her head to his shoulder while he trailed his fingers over that teensy bit of cleavage she let him see. She didn’t fight him, but he felt her stiffen. As much as it killed him, he stopped. Good enough. For now.

  “You make me smile,” she said. “You drive me crazy, but you always find a way to make me forget my insecurities. At least temporarily. It’s remarkable.”

  And then she shifted sideways and slid into his lap. The chair wobbled, but he planted his feet to keep them steady.

  “See, no problem.”

  “I’m not too heavy?”

  “Can’t feel a thing.”

  She laughed and he nuzzled her neck while moving his hand along her thigh. “To think we’ve been missing this.”
She kissed him, long and slow and then grabbed his cheeks. “I don’t want to feel this way about you. You’ll devastate me. As much as you make me laugh, you distract me.”

  “I don’t see that as a bad thing for a girl who works too much.”

  “It is when I’m running my father’s billion-dollar hotel. I adore you but your free-spiritedness takes a lot of energy. I don’t know if I can handle you and the hotel. Then again, in a few days, you’ll be gone, back to your adventurous life. So maybe it doesn’t matter.”

  “But South Beach in December is looking pretty good.”

  She inched back. Set her hands on his shoulders and he thought he might just die right there. All he could think was that she might be perfect.

  “I want you all the time,” he said. “It’s worse after the shower today. Talk about distracted. The way things are right now, I’ll never get enough of you. For the first time, I like that idea. Can we just go with it? Take it one day at a time? Enjoy being together?”

  She slid from his lap and stood. “For now. Sure. Eventually though, and probably very soon, you’ll leave and my heart will be broken.”

  Arguing that would be futile. If there was one thing Billy Tripp, Mr. Relentless, was sure of, it was that her heart wouldn’t be the only one broken.

  * * *

  After dinner and a stroll on the beach with Kristen, they snuck into her suite for a quick make-out session before she drove home. Restless from the lack of getting laid, Billy decided it might be a good night for a sneak and peek on Bradley J. Murphy’s office. Why not?

  His phone rang. Monk. He punched the button. “What?”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m in the lobby of the hotel. Where are you?”

  “I’m standing in the hallway in front of your room. Stay in the lobby. I’m coming down.”

  Fuck. Sorry, Ma. “You’re here?”

  “Yeah, just flew in.”

  “I told you not to. Now Izzy is pissed at me.”

  “No. Turns out my girl has her eye on a pair of diamond earrings and she’s not above bartering for them. We compromised. I would have given her the stupid earrings if she’d asked, which she knows, so I don’t get what all the negotiating was about.”

  Billy laughed. “She’s breaking your balls. You know that, right?”

  “Pretty much, yeah. I’m getting in the elevator.”