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

by Nightingale, MJ

  He moaned his pleasure, and one of his hands of its own volition strolled downwards to grasp her ass and lower even, to the back of her leg, skin to skin below the mini skirt she wore and then back up again. He gripped her barely covered ass cheek in his hand, gently squeezing the flesh. He groaned again, and she pushed herself against his cock, getting closer. He was about to burst into flames. He had to stop this insanity, his mind told him, but he couldn’t resist this woman.

  Ronnie was lost. This man haunted many of her dreams, but she never expected to see him again. When his hand began to massage and squeeze her ass, she was almost a goner. The ache she felt was like nothing she had ever felt before. It was insanity, she thought. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. Then she was pushing him away.

  “Stop. Please stop,” her voice was near panic as she turned her head away from him.

  He felt the loss. Nikko pulled his hands away immediately and took a step back. Her hands were covering her face in shame, and he hated to see her like this. He slowly reached up to pull her hands away. In his mind, she had nothing to be ashamed of.

  “Nikko, we can’t,” she whispered, looking into his eyes hoping to see understanding there.

  “Why?” he asked, needing to hear the explanation but afraid of it at the same time. He knew what she was going through, but he could provide her support, comfort, and be by her side if she would let him. He waited for her answer.

  “Nikko,” she sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to be put off. “I’m not in a place right now to start something.” When he started to shake his head, she went on. “Listen, we can’t do this. That’s it. Nikko, please don’t do that again, I just can’t. These charges, Gary, my mom, I just need to focus on this right now. I won’t have my head in the game, and it’s not fair to you or me. Please try to understand,” she asked, slipping her hands out of his. Especially because she knew she would just be another notch on his bedpost. With this man it would matter to her, she hated to admit to herself. When he remained mute staring down at her in confusion, she turned and got into the car.

  Nikko knew she was facing a lot, but he also knew she didn’t have to face it alone. He wanted to help, to be there. He didn’t know why, but he felt it was the right thing to do. He knelt and touched her cheek. He could see tears forming there. He felt like such a jerk and didn’t want her to think he was all about sex, all about his baser needs. He knew she must going through a gamut of emotions and didn’t want to complicate things further for her, but he wanted her to know he would support her decision, for now.

  “Ronnie. Please look at me.” When she looked at him, eyes shining, he lost a little bit of his heart and the words just came to him. “I’m sorry. I know you must be going through a roller coaster of emotions with what you’re facing. I shouldn’t have done that. But Ronnie,” he took her chin in his hand so she couldn’t look away. He wanted her to hear him, really hear him. “There is something between us. Ever since last summer, and you and I both know it. This something is definitely unfinished between us, and it needs to be.” When she started to shake her head to deny it, he used his thumb on her cheek to caress it, and added. “I’ll give you space. The last thing you need right now is some lecherous fool like me making advances every time you accidentally brush up against me, or vice versa. I want to help you get through this, Ronnie. I will help you if you’ll let me. Then, when we get your name cleared, and we will, then maybe we can see what this is between us, see what it really is. Okay?” His eyes searched hers looking for something.

  What else could she say? The man was persistent. She doubted there would be a follow through, but right now more than anything, she just wanted to get home. “Okay.” The word came out shaky, but it was enough for him for now. He kissed her softly on the cheek, stood up and shut her door.

  When he got in, he noticed she her hand on the cheek he kissed. It took his breath away. When he hesitated to start the car, she looked at him. He noticed she wasn’t wearing her seatbelt. “Seatbelt?” he asked.

  “Oh, that,” she laughed nervously, and reached behind her to tug on the strap, and it stuck again.

  “Want some help?” he asked leaning over carefully.

  “Um, no . . . thank-you,” she said as she tugged even harder in vain. Stupid seatbelt, she thought. She didn’t think she could deal with another close encounter with Nikko.

  He hid the grin that threatened to spread across his face. He reminded himself not to fix that seatbelt for the second time that day. But being sensitive to her needs, he was careful when he reached over to assist her. Cautious not to brush against her, he pushed her hand out of the way gently, and smoothly he pulled the belt loose of its mooring. It slid effortlessly across her chest. Lucky belt. He clicked it into place, and then straightened and did up his own seatbelt. Both he and Ronnie let out a soft frustrated sigh as he started the engine. They were on their way.

  The black Escalade skimmed down the highway going precisely nine miles over the speed limit and a very angry Andreas Marino was at the wheel.

  “Anything yet?” he snapped, clenching his jaw in frustration.

  “Nothing,” Giovanni replied from the shotgun position, putting his phone back in his phone case and clipping it onto his belt. He was nervous as hell. Nearly four hours ago their brother picked up the girl to bring her home. It should have been an hour’s drive tops. His hand reached up to push a stray lock of dark hair out of his face. His brother Andreas was angry. He was worried.

  “You?” Andreas asked, glancing in the rearview mirror at his younger brother, practically a mirror image of himself, only seven years younger at twenty-eight years of age.

  “Nope. Not a thing. His cell is dead or off,” answered Blaze yawning in the back seat, trying to get comfortable in the cramped quarters for someone six foot tall. All the brothers were six foot, or more.

  “Hell. I knew something was up. He offered to handle this a bit too quickly. It’s not like him to volunteer for the hearings. You sure nothing went on between him and the girl last summer?” Andreas was pissed. Nikko, his youngest brother by nearly nine years, was the most reckless, the one who had to be reined in at times. This case was just too big, too important. Fuck! He should have handled it himself. But when Nikko offered, it had taken him by surprise. He thought the talk he had with him a week ago, might have sunk in. That he was willing to learn all the avenues of the business, and not just what he considered the exciting stuff.

  “Calm down, biggie,” Blaze rumbled from the back seat. “He and Ronnie never. He told me so.” Blaze was the serious one in the family, the one who never exaggerated. He was closest to Nikko, being not quite two years apart in age. He was also the peacekeeper in the family when the brothers became over heated. He was the one who could be counted on to get Nikko to toe the line when it was needed, and usually settled the disputes between them all.

  “The police sergeant I spoke with said they left the station around one o’clock, but he wasn’t sure because he saw Nikko talking to someone for a while. They may have stopped to get something, gas up, eat, who knows. He’ll get her there.”

  Andreas just grunted. Blaze was probably right, but still. He should have called or sent a text. He should have kept his damn phone charged. God, he just hoped everything was okay.

  “He should have driven her straight home. Her mother and friends are blowing up my phone. Christ! Why doesn’t he just do what he’s told!” he slammed his palm down on the steering wheel, and turned off the highway onto State Road Fifty only fifteen minutes from the girl’s mother’s house.”

  Gio shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He knew to keep quiet when Andreas was on one of his tears about Nikko.

  “He’d better be at Lou’s place when we get there. He’d just damn well better,” Andreas spoke grimly, as his phone notification indicated he had yet another text, probably from the girl’s mom again.

  He grabbed his phone and gave it to Gio. Just three years younger than him at thirty-two. G
io was fiddling with the phone, and finally read the message to him. Gio smiled and let out his held breath. “What’s it say?” Andreas commanded.

  Gio half turned to include Blaze in his announcement. “It’s Louisa. She says they finally called. Had a flat tire, and just had it changed at a garage on Forty-One. Phone was dead like we thought. They waited for the tow-truck, and called from the garage. He will be dropping her off within the next half hour or so.”

  Andreas let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to lose this bounty. He wanted the girl to wait for her day in court, and do what was expected of her. They had a lot of their own money tied up in this one. A favor to Victor. He was still pissed at Nikko though. Making the mother wait, not calling. His notification went off again.

  Gio read, “They stopped for lunch too, she says. She wants to know if we are still coming.” Andreas didn’t answer so Gio continued. “Are we still coming?” he asked.

  Andreas nodded. “Might as well. We are nearly there anyhow. We can explain the situation to Miss Sears, what’s at risk, and Nikko is still not off the hook as far as I’m concerned. And what the hell was he doing on Forty-One? That’s the long way!” Gio nodded next to him, and sent the mom a quick text letting her know they were all on their way.

  From the backseat, Blaze chimed in his two cents. “Andreas, dude, take it easy on him. It could have happened to any one of us.”

  “I seriously doubt that. I keep my phone charged and so do you. There is a charger in all the vehicles. No excuses. Taking her out for lunch, and a joy ride. What the hell is that all about?” he shook his head in apparent disgust. “The girl’s in serious trouble, and he is taking her out to fucking eat. Can’t he think with his head for once?”

  Blaze tried to suppress a laugh from the backseat. Andreas looked at him in the rearview mirror eyes narrowing. “Thought you said nothing was going on?”

  “Nothing went on . . . last summer,” he added after a significant pause and laughed again not bothering to keep it in this time. Blaze caught Gio’s smirk out of the corner of his eye.

  “Shut up,” Andreas cautioned his brother when his glance in the mirror told him Blaze was about to make a rude comment about the kind of thinking Nikko liked to do and with what body part.

  His face turned pouty. “Hey, I was just going to say maybe she was hungry,” Blaze offered, trying to sound innocent. Andreas gave him a look in the rearview mirror that ended all further discussion on that topic. The eldest Marino was most certainly the toughest. Hard and hard to please.

  ***

  When Lou heard the next car pull up, she knew it had to be Veronica. She jumped out of her seat at the kitchen table and headed straight for the door. Jay, Ana, and Monica were all at her heels. The Marinos, who arrived a few minutes earlier, remained where they were sitting in the living room, but Andreas did stand up to peer over their heads out the open door. He recognized his brother’s classic black Cutlass in the driveway. He relaxed. Slightly. Figured. One of the company’s cars never would have gotten a flat. His tires were puncture proof. It also explained why his phone wasn’t charged.

  “Veronica, baby. You’re home,” Lou called and engulfed her daughter in her arms.

  “Mom, we were fine,” Ronnie muttered breathlessly from within the embrace. When Lou pulled back to look at her daughter, to give her the maternal once over, Ronnie added, “Nikko would have called, but his cell phone battery died. Mine hasn’t been charged in days. We called from the garage.”

  “I know,” Lou stated and pulled her in for one more hug before releasing her. “I mean I’m just so glad you’re here, you know . . .” Her voice trailed off, unsure of how to finish.

  “I know what you mean, Mom,” she ducked out of her embrace and steered her mom back into the house.

  As Ronnie made her way inside, she was engulfed by Ana, and a very pregnant Monica as well. She thanked them profusely for their help in securing her release.

  “Wouldn’t have it any other way, baby cakes,” Ana muttered against her cheek, and let her go.

  She turned around then to face the room full of grim faced Marinos. They stared at her, and then Andreas’ voice boomed out over head. “Nikko outside, now.”

  Ronnie turned to see that Nikko just entered the house, but he gave her a small smile before turning on his heel and heading back outside. She did notice as he turned that his smile quickly disappeared. Apparently the eldest Marino was not too impressed with his baby brother’s delivery being four hours delayed.

  Ronnie was ushered to a seat in the living room, the recliner Andreas just vacated, and Lou was bringing her a coke. She just made out Andreas’ words as the door shut behind them. “What the hell were you thinking?” He hadn’t even bothered to lower his voice.

  The other Marinos looked around uncomfortably, but no one moved to leave or follow Andreas out. “So . . .” Ronnie started and left her statement unfinished.

  Blaze was the first to speak. “Yeah . . .” And he let his sentence go uncompleted too. Gio laughed and it broke the mood, and soon she found herself explaining what transpired again, but all the while wondered how the conversation outside was going.

  “You took her to eat, didn’t charge your cell, got a flat, and God knows what else. Nikko, it shouldn’t have taken you four hours to get here. What the hell?”

  “Hey, you told me to talk to the girl. Get some information in case she ran. Places and such she might go. I took the longer route figuring she would be uncomfortable talking to me at first. I was just doing what you told me to do. How was I to know that road would have a ton of construction and I’d pick up a nail?”

  “Why would she not want to talk with you?” Andreas’s hands raked his hair as he paced the gravel drive. He immediately seized on the one part of Nikko’s explanation that made no sense to him.

  Nikko never told his brother about last summer. Shit! And, he wasn’t about to go there. “I . . . figured the girl just got out of jail. She might need some time to loosen up. It’s maybe twenty, thirty minutes longer.”

  “Okay, but why stop to eat. You could have gone through a drive through window for Christ sakes.” Andreas’ wasn’t buying this story. He had seen them dance at the wedding, and although Blaze had said nothing transpired, he still wasn’t sure.

  “Okay,” Nikko held up his hands. “Yes, we could have. She was opening up, and then she asked to stop and eat, she saw the barbecue place. What was I going to say? No. The girl was talking.” He didn’t tell his brother he practically forced her to eat by teasing her with the aromas when he rolled down his window. He would definitely be keeping that little tidbit of information to himself.

  Andreas looked at his brother hard. “The phone?”

  “The car doesn’t have a phone charger. The heat at lunch, outside, must have drained the battery. By that time, we were only MIA an hour and half. How the hell was I supposed to know I’d pick up a nail, and get a flat? Come on bro, you really going to rake me over the coals for this. I was doing my job. We called as soon as we got the Cutlass to the garage. Ronnie offered to help me put the bubble on, but then a tow truck came by. I didn’t want to drive her on the bubble, and knew we needed to call so I figured getting the new tire would give me more of a chance to get Ronnie to open up.”

  Again Andreas looked at his brother hard. It all made sense. It did seem Nikko had been doing the job, circumstances had just gotten in the way. “So, what did you find out?” he asked abruptly.

  “I got names of some friends. I got places she hangs out. A cabin her granddad has. That sounded like a likely place. She mentioned loving it there.”

  “Okay, good. That’s good.” Andreas nodded. Maybe Nikko had listened to him last week about taking on more responsibility. He nodded at his brother. He’d let him off the hook this time. But, there better not be any more screw ups.

  Nikko held up his hands in surrender. “We good?”

  “Yeah, we’re good. Let’s get back in there. Since I’m here, I
still need to go over some things with Louisa and . . . Ronnie, is it?” He arched one eyebrow up gauging Nikko’s reaction to the girl’s nickname.

  “Yeah, she likes to be called Ronnie. Only her mom calls her Veronica, I guess.”

  “Okay, Ronnie it is.” Andreas turned on his heel, and Nikko followed him back into the house clapping his hand on his big brother’s shoulder.

  Just maybe, Andreas thought, his brother was maturing. He liked that thought. After moving here two years ago from New York, he had been partying a little too hard. But maybe things were changing now that he had settled down in his own place, and now that he was working more. Maybe the responsibility of the job was just what he needed. His brother was twenty-seven now, maybe he had been treating him like the kid brother for too long, he thought, as the door shut behind him and all eyes turned towards him.

  “All is good,” he rumbled.

  Ronnie let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. The man was a taller, stronger looking, older version of Nikko. Very handsome. But very intimidating too. In fact, these two brothers looked the most alike.

  “But, we do have some things to discuss, that we didn’t get around to Louisa, when you called. So, if you don’t mind.” He indicated the sofa next to Ronnie.

  Lou made her way towards it and sat at the edge closest to her daughter. She took Ronnie’s hand in hers. Jay, her husband, came around behind her. A former soldier, tatted up, he looked menacing, but everyone knew what a softy at heart he was.

  “Yes, go on,” Lou stated, once she was comfortable. She gave Ronnie’s hand a reassuring squeeze for good measure. Perhaps to bolster her own confidence, Ronnie wasn’t sure.

  Andreas didn’t sit, but when all was quiet he began. “Okay, so Ana and Monica came up with the twenty-five thousand for the bond. That, of course, is our fee for insuring the bond. We work with a few insurance companies to secure the bond. It was paid, and you will make arrangements, I assume, to pay your friends back because that is forfeited to us. Our fee for arranging the remainder.”