Snapping in front of the big guy’s face, I ask, “We’ve been in town less than twenty-four hours, and Black calls in a hit team. What if we were cops?”
Hayes glances at the passing traffic on the nearby road. “His backers might be connected to the state. He’d know if the attorney general sent investigators to sniff around his area.”
“Bullshit. If we were DEA or some other federal agency, no way would he know so quickly. Would you?”
Hayes knows Black can’t be better than him and instantly shakes his head. I glance down at the dead men.
“What if the guys in Memphis sent us? Or we worked for a cartel outfit? We could be anyone, but they took the chance of killing us without knowing what kind of hell they’d bring down on their organization.”
Wearing a grumpy frown, Hayes puffs at his cigar. “A year ago, some drunk fuck shot an off-duty ATF guy in Louisiana. The FBI and state guys are still tearing up the town. The feds are like herpes. Once you get them, you ain’t getting rid of them.”
“Exactly. This wasn’t the move of a professional with ice in his veins. Black fucked up in a way amateurs fuck up. I think we can safely say he isn’t working with a powerful backer. Cooper shouldn’t have much problem sending his people in here to take back operations.”
“You’re so sexy when you talk like that,” Dino says, sidling up next to me. “I think we should stick around this shithole awhile longer.”
“Why?” I frown, pushing him away from me.
“Shithole?” Hayes growls.
Their tempers instantly stink up the place again. Dino wraps an arm possessively around my shoulders, and I give up on keeping his hands off of me.
“Amateurs or not, these are still cops,” Dino says, tightening his hold on me. “Johansson and his crew can’t exactly ride into town and kill them all without getting the attention of the state guys.”
“Hair gel has a point,” Hayes mutters.
“This is my natural style, beef boy.”
“Will you two shut the fuck up already?” I nearly yell. “You’re making my period kick in early. Trust me, once that happens, all bets are off on which one of you lives.”
“Don’t worry, Apples. You’re sexy enough for me to ignore a little blood.”
Shoving him away from me, I storm off towards the front of the hotel. I know Dino will growl at Hayes. Cussing will ring out. Threats exchanged. I don’t give a shit, though. Even if they pee in a circle to claim territory, I’m uninterested.
Someone took a shot at me. I’d really like to shoot back, but I’m hamstrung by laws and rules and other normally pointless shit.
Dialing Rafael, I enter the hotel to find the staff indifferent to the mess outside. If the police are coming, I don’t hear sirens. Hayes runs a tight ship in White Horse, and a shootout at the local Hampton Inn isn’t news.
I’m in the elevator by the time he answers, but I don’t explain the situation until in my room.
“I agree we’re likely dealing with amateurs,” he says, “but I agree with Dino that Cooper killing cops remains a problem.”
“Cooper killing them is a problem but not us, right?”
“I wouldn’t send you to play recon on a nothing job, Minka. We need to turn Common Bend upside down and shake out all of the loose ends.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s what Memphis wants.”
Sighing, I flop into the chair. “I hate working for outfits. They have unrealistic expectations.”
“True but I did work for Memphis for a long time. I’ll run interference so you don’t get stuck in their web. Can you work with Dino to dismantle Black’s organization?”
“How clean does Johansson want Common Bend?”
“Black has likely put new people in charge of the main parts of the town’s businesses.”
Kicking off my boots, I wish I had something to eat in the room. “The pharmaceutical side shouldn’t be difficult to clean. I don’t get the sense Black knows anything about safe production. If his new people don’t either, they’d likely blow themselves up. We can just speed that along.”
“Let me know if you need anything. I can send supplies or people. I’m also only a few hours away if you need the big guns.”
“Listen to you brag,” I say, laughing. “Do you think Troy will fly in and Dino can return to Houston?”
“Doubtful on the latter, but I’m sure Troy would help out.”
Imagining Dino and Troy growling at each other, I decide I can’t handle more testosterone.
“No, let Troy play cuddles with his woman. Dino should provide a decent human shield.”
Rafael remains quiet for a minute, and I feel him thinking. Rolling my eyes, I wish I could slap him through the phone.
“What?”
“Dino is sweet on you. He might make mistakes based on those feelings.”
“Sweet? He’s a dog in heat. I’m sure that’s not a new experience for him.”
“Whatever you have to tell yourself, princess,” he says, and I hear him fighting laughter. “Call if you need anything. Otherwise, have fun.”
9
~ Dino ~
Fly Me to the Moon
The corpses on the ground taunt me. Killing them would have impressed Minka. She likes a strong man, and I am a strong man, but this stupid bear-sized fucker decided to ruin shit. I ought to kick his ass for ruining my big moment, but he’s carrying a shotgun like he knows what I’m considering.
“Nicely done with the skirt,” he says, clenching the cigar in his teeth.
Realizing what he means, I frown. “How did you know? Are you stalking us?”
Hayes taps at his throat and then points at mine. “The hickeys are a dead giveaway.”
Fixing my shirt collar, I shake out my shoulders. “The girl knows what she wants.”
“Or she’s bored in a small town.”
“Fuck off, Mountain Man.”
“Big talk for a guy standing in someone’s piss.”
I look down and realize the dead guy relieved himself at some point.
“I ain’t sorry to leave behind the days of cleaning up my messes,” I say, wiping my shoes off on the guy’s chest. “Good thing I have the help to do it for me now.”
Hayes grunts, but his focus is on approaching guys dressed in painter gear.
“Scrub it down, boys,” Hayes says, resting the shotgun over his shoulder and walking away. “Watch your back, Piss Feet. I won’t always be around to do it for you.”
I want to flip him off. No, I’d rather beat the shit out of him. Maybe shove that shotgun up his mountain-man ass.
Or I could go inside and find Minka. She’s probably in a bad mood, and I’d like nothing more to fuck her back into a smile.
The girl at the front counter smiles at me when I walk inside. The shooting did nothing to cramp her day. No, the folks in White Horse shrug off such annoyances.
Minka is less blasé about the recent violence when I join her in the room. She’s spread out on the bed, frowning at her phone.
“The gorilla is cleaning up the mess he made.”
I rest my guns on the table next to Minka’s. Emptying out of my pockets, I find a music station on the phone and set the channel to Dean Martin.
“I don’t like that music,” Minka announces, trying to piss me off.
“No accounting for taste, Apples.”
I walk to the bed where she watches me warily. She’s thinking about work when she should be thinking about us.
Reaching down, I pull her by the ankles until her ass hangs off the bed. Minka is dead weight, bored of my attempts. So much indifference in her smoky eyes. So little idea of how determined I can be.
I tug her to her feet and wrap an arm around her waist. Like magic, the song Fever begins to play. Holding her tightly against me, I swear this woman has infected me with something fierce and addictive.
My hips move to the rhythm, but she remains a wet noodle. Minka stares in my eyes, and I love not
knowing what she’s thinking. The mystery in her gaze could mean anything. Will she hit me? Laugh at me? Throw me on the bed and ravage me? The not knowing makes me unbearably hard.
“Do you use these moves a lot?” she whispers as her hips finally dance with mine.
“Never had to before.”
“Stud,” she says mockingly.
“You really were a virgin before me.”
Smiling, Minka wraps her arms around my waist. “Yes. Be gentle, Mister Sausage.”
“Oh, I’ll be tender,” I whisper. “Until I’m not.”
Gaze warming, Minka sizes me up. “Later, we’ll work,” she murmurs, lifting her lips to meet mine.
Work is the last thing on my mind. I’m happy to let Mountain Man handle the Shithead Sheriff. Let the rednecks fight the other rednecks over who gets to control this slice of redneck paradise.
Minka leans towards the bed until I pull her back. “I’m not done dancing,” I say, swinging her around and away from the bed.
“I thought you were horny.”
“Yes, ever since I saw you, but we’re in no hurry.”
Relaxing again, Minka moves with me. I lean down and kiss her throat, eliciting a sexy moan from her. My fingers slide up her shirt and pull it over her head. Once I toss it aside, my hands take hers, and I swing her around again.
“People don’t dance enough in life.”
“I’m always saying that.”
I smile at her lie. We move around the hotel room’s small space. Our lips meet again as Sammy Davis Jr. begins to sing. Minka unbuttons my shirt as soon as Frank Sinatra takes over with That’s Life.
“Your music isn’t awful,” she whispers before licking my chest.
“I knew I’d win you over.”
Spinning around, I free one hand from hers and allow it to roam down her back. Minka sighs at my touch. Her indifferent bullshit is gone now. Kissing her again, I keep her lips locked with mine through another song. By the time Frankie Valli sings, her bra hangs from a nearby chair.
Louis Armstrong serenades Ella Fitzgerald as Minka shimmies out of her jeans and panties. Unbuttoning me, she slides down my slacks and painfully small silk boxers. My freed cock stands thick and proud for her inspection.
Giving my hot flesh a long, loving lick, Minka gasps when I tug her back up and return to our dance.
“You’re still wearing socks,” she says, seeming startled.
I reach down to pull them off before tossing them on the chair next to her lacy pink panties.
“Better?” I ask.
All of her secrets fade from her eyes when Minka smiles. Open to me, I see the excited curiosity of a woman normally never excited or curious.
Swinging her around, I pat her ass playfully once she’s back in my arms.
“People don’t dance naked enough.”
“Wow. That was the topic of my last blog.”
Throwing back my head, I laugh at her silly expression that looks so wrong on such an aroused face. Wrong yet perfect.
I dip her back and run my tongue along her breastbone before sliding left to where a hard, ripe nipple waits for me. Minka makes a strangled gasp when I suck the nub of flesh between my lips.
“Dino,” she murmurs in a musical voice.
The heat between her legs calls to my already dripping cock. We need relief, but I linger at her delicious little nipples. Every nibble arouses another moan from Minka until she can’t stop. Her heated cries only pause when I lift her onto my hips and guide my cock into her hot pussy.
Minka wraps her strong legs around my hips, and we dance our way to a frenzied climax.
10
~ Dino ~
Peeling Back Her Layers
Minka is never deadlier than when sporting a bikini. I’ve seen this woman naked more than once now, and I still manage to lose the ability to speak when she whips off her towel to reveal a pale blue top and pink bikini bottom. Minka turns on horrible music on her phone and shakes her ass for me before doing a cannonball into the deep end of the hotel pool.
The pool closed an hour earlier, but I slipped the front-desk clerk a C-note to let us swim without the nuisance of loud kids. Now we have the heated pool and party-sized hot tub to ourselves.
I don’t jump into the pool like a rowdy kid. Walking down the steps, I meet a wet Minka at the middle of the pool.
“You always have to make a big entrance,” she mocks, swimming away from me.
“What is this horrible shit we’re listening to?”
“You’re kidding, right? This is Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. How can you not know that? Oh, and never call my music shit.”
“You can’t even dance to it,” I mutter. “What’s the point?”
“The point is I like it, and you like me, so you need to fake like you enjoy my shitty tastes. I do the same for you.”
“The Rat Pack rules, doll.”
“Sure, and spaghetti is the best food ever!” she cries all excited before giving me a frown, “See how easy that is? Now you fake it.”
“I’ve never dated a woman I needed to fake shit for.”
“It’s called growing up. Tell me how it turns out.”
Laughing, I reach for her, but she’s playing flirtatious mermaid and refuses to let me catch her. I think she knows I plan to harpoon her, and she wants to avoid being impaled for the time being.
“I heard you have a sister,” I say, letting her swim around un-accosted.
“Yeah, Verina is married to a balding fat guy who thinks she can do no wrong.”
“Even if she listens to shitty music?”
Minka smiles at me over her shoulder before diving into the deep end. I watch her feet appear in the air and then she is gone under the water until reemerging at the other end of the pool.
“Her husband, Rick, is always trying to lose weight. Every time we talk on the phone, she tells me about a fad diet she has him and the family on.”
“Do you like her?”
“Sure. I mean, I wouldn’t have anything in common with her if we weren’t related.”
“What about your brother?”
“Taz smells like cigarettes and claims women disappoint him.”
“He sounds like a joy.”
“Oh, he is. His last wife always answered the phone and gave me the third-degree thinking I was one of his whores. I eventually visited Vegas, where they lived, and threatened to cut off her face if she kept me from talking to my brother. She cried.”
Minka smiles at the memory. “The funny thing is I don’t like talking to Taz, and he doesn’t like talking to me. We just didn’t like having anyone telling us what to do. We get that shit from our mom, who once threatened a cop for asking her to stop flicking her ashes at people at the bus stop.”
“Your family sounds a real pleasure.”
“Don’t talk shit about my family, Dino,” she growls, giving me a look that many men died seeing. “They suck and will die without anyone caring, but they’re still my blood. I defend what’s mine even if I can’t fucking stand them. Get it?”
“Oh, I get it,” I say super smooth and soft.
Minka’s angry expression relaxes immediately, and she smiles at me.
“You’re pretty irresistible when you want to be,” she says, swimming away from me.
“Funny.”
“You only have the one brother?” she asks, swimming towards me before changing her mind.
“If I want to catch you, you’ll be caught.”
“What’s your brother’s name?” she says, returning to me.
“I like when you submit.”
Minka smirks and pokes my chest. “No, you don’t. You like the chase. If you ever truly caught me, you’d get bored.”
“You think?” I ask, cupping her face.
“Are you afraid to talk about your brother? Will you get emotional? If it makes you feel better, I’m very good at patting people on the back when they cry.”
I take her hands and press them again
st my chest. Her nails dig into my flesh enough to make my cock hard but not enough to draw blood.
“You’re too perfect when you play.”
“Why won’t you tell me about your brother?”
“No reason. I just don’t know where he is or if he’s even alive.”
“How come?”
The concerned look on her face makes my heart tighten. As much as I love the chase, I want the real shit too. I need her to care because I won’t play the fucking fool.
“He went into law enforcement. Undercover shit.”
“He’s a cop, and you worked for the mob? Cain and Abel stuff, huh?”
“Frankie is a fucking idiot. That’s all I got to say about that.”
Minka fights laughter. “Tell me your parents didn't really name you Frank and Dino.”
I give her a dark frown, and she laughs. Right in my damn face too. With anyone else, I’d want blood. With Minka, I fucking laugh along with her. The woman has too much power, and I just keep handing her more.
“What would they have named girls?”
“Francesca and Dina.”
“Of course.”
Playing with her wet hair, I sigh. “You know, if I’d had a little sister to protect, I might have never gotten my start in the mob.”
Minka studies me with her dark eyes, and I know she’s considering pushing the topic of my brother. Now I’ve given her another possible line of interrogation. Will she take it or make me squirm?
“Why a sister?” she asks, giving me a break.
“I always wanted a little sister to protect. It was just Frankie and me, though. So I was protective of the younger girls in the neighborhood. One day when I was fifteen, I saw some local guys I knew. They weren’t friends, but it’s the type of neighborhood where you know everyone. While I was riding my bike, I noticed them teasing a girl named Shannon. They were crowding her and corralling her towards the backyard belonging to one of the guys.”
“Sounds like a nice place to grow up,” she says, tapping my chest with her long fingers.
“It was picturesque. You’d like it.”
“Of course I would,” she whispers against my lips. “Now, why can’t you lie like that for me?”
High Voltage (Ramsey Security Book 3) Page 5