I wanted to punch the wall. We were already having a hard time hiding our relationship, and it wasn’t even one. “I gotta go.”
“Tell your Untouchable that we’re about to bring down a large drug operation, and she’d better not fuck it up.”
“Delilah doesn’t fuck anything up.”
“Yeah, neither do you. Except last night you got stabbed by a guy who can’t even hide his face from hotel cameras.”
I sighed and rubbed a hand over the scruff on my beard. The man had been idling by Delilah’s old room then had waited in the staircase for hours for her to come home from work.
Cade let me know he was in the same cartel that Izzy was undercover with. They were scoping out Izzy’s sister. It had me on edge, so I went to confront him in the stairway, and when he lied to me about what he was doing there, I should have left him to it.
Leonardo would have had him removed quickly enough, and there would have been no issue. We would have gotten better security and made sure Delilah was protected.
All the training I’d had, how I’d always prided myself on my restraint, all of it seemed for nothing when I threw him up against the cement wall of that staircase and demanded he tell me why he was there.
His eyes widened in fear. “You’re not just some guy Izzy’s sister’s fucking. They’re rats, aren’t they? You’re a fucking cop or something.”
I slammed him into the wall again, and he got one good stab in my trap before I broke his arm and disarmed his weapon.
“I’m going to kill those girls. Kill them. But first, I’m going to torture them. You won't catch us. We’re too big. Too—”
When I put more pressure on his injured appendage, he screamed. Then he swore and taunted me with the idea that he and his boys were going to take good care of Izzy and Delilah.
So I took good care of him instead, and the information died with him. I couldn't let him go back to the cartel and tell them that we had eyes on Delilah everywhere, that Izzy wasn’t really a part of their crew.
“A knife wound is barely something to write home about.”
“You were distracted,” Cade pointed out, following me to the corner of the gym to get my bag. I was done working out for the day because Cade was right. Delilah’s news had distracted me, torn me apart, and made me want more than I had all at the same time. Suddenly, being a man in control, a man who had access to all the world and knew how to extract information from anyone, wasn’t enough.
Nothing would be enough when I didn’t have her, and I knew I never could. I was able to kill a man with my bare hands and walk back to my room to fuck a girl who was so sweet she should be given a ticket to heaven without hesitation.
I didn’t deserve that, and she didn’t deserve me sticking around to remind her of the pain we caused one another.
I got her for another week or two and that was it.
“I’m going to go enjoy Old San Juan, Cade. Make sure that no men come near us,” I grumbled.
Cade had been watching us long enough for me to know we were safe exploring, especially when most everyone thought we weren’t tied to Izzy’s operation.
I got ready and texted Delilah.
Me: It’s hot out and we’re walking the roads. Wear something comfortable.
Delilah: I have the perfect thing.
Me: Giving you five minutes to be ready to go. I worked out. You should have come with.
Delilah: You didn’t invite me.
I didn’t invite her because I would have fucked her in the gym. My cold shower put me on my best behavior to knock on her adjoining room door, though.
“Coming,” she announced and whipped the door open with a bright smile on her face. Her hazel eyes twinkled with mischief, and when I looked down, I knew exactly why.
“Delilah Hardy …” I murmured as my eyes tracked down her body. She wore what looked like one yellow strap which wrapped around her neck, crisscrossed so that one side covered each breast, and then I guessed it tied in the back.
No bra.
No coverage of her midsection.
Her skirt was long and flowy and yellow and so thin I knew her ass would jiggle just right under it when she walked.
“You like it?” She spun in the doorway, and her dress flared out around her. “I bought it at a shop downstairs and thought it was something I’d never wear back home, something no one would expect me to wear. When I tried it on, the cashier said I looked beautiful.” When I didn't say anything, her face started to change. “Is it too much?” she asked, her hands wringing in front of her bare stomach like she had anything to worry about.