Dirty Deeds(25)

“What’s his last name?” I asked, knowing that sometimes the men in Mexico took on their mother’s maiden names.

“Bardem,” she said without hesitation. “Why all the questions?”

I shrugged and leaned back in my seat. “Just want to know more about you.”

Her brows knitted together as she eyed me suspiciously. “Maybe so, but you’re asking with this look on your face like you’re all David Caruso.”

“David Caruso?”

“CSI Miami. It’s still my favorite, I don’t care for the other ones.”

“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you but I don’t have the hair to be David Caruso, nor do I have the sunglasses and quippy one-liners.”

She took a sip of her wine but couldn’t hide her smile. Good, she was back to trusting me again. I wanted to ask her about her parents but I thought that would be pushing my luck. Whoever they were to her though, they were either dead or out of the picture. They had never come to see her in the hospital and the truth about her brother and sister explained why they hadn’t either.

What the hell have you done, Alana? I asked in my head as I stared at her across the table, the light illuminating her in an almost angelic way. Why would anyone pay me two hundred thousand dollars to have you killed?

And how the hell would I ever know the answers to those questions without incriminating myself?

To help her relax a little more, I turned our conversation onto TV shows since David Caruso proved to be such a good segue. There was nothing that got the passion flaring in this country like Telemundo and poorly translated American shows.

By the time we were finished two bottles of wine, it was getting late and I had no idea where the evening was going to take us. I had gotten her drunk – a little too drunk – and she was looking wistfully at the area by the pool where couples had started slow-dancing to sad mariachi music.

“Care to dance?” I asked her.

She shot me a sloppy smile. “Yeah right. The way that I am?”

I got out of my chair and held out my hand. “We can make it work, I promise.”

She didn’t look convinced but let me get her out of the seat anyway. She was extra wobbly on her feet now, particularly since she really only had one foot to stand on, but somehow I managed to help her hobble over near the dance floor.

We weren’t quite in there with the crowd of couples – I had visions of us falling into the pool – but we were close enough to feel a part of it.

“Here,” I told her, peering down into her eyes. “Put your arms around my neck and hold on.”

She did as she asked, an impish smile on her lips. Her arms around me felt impossibly good.

“What do I do with my feet?”

“Step on my foot with your good one and keep it there. Wrap your other calf around mine.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Trust me,” I implored and her hold around my neck tightened as she placed her sandaled foot on top of my boot and then hooked her casted leg around my other calf.

“I’m not breaking you?”

“Are you kidding? You weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet.”

“My thighs and ass weigh more than that,” she pointed out.

Taking the opportunity, I slide one of my hands down to the small of her back, my fingers just brushing against the top of her curves. “I can’t be the judge of that yet.”

She grinned up at me, her cheeks flushing. “Yet, you say.”

I returned the smile. “The night is young.”

She pressed herself into me. The night is also hard, I thought to myself. There was no point hiding it though. I couldn’t imagine any man who wouldn’t get an erection with this woman pressed against them.

Focus, Derek, I told myself.

But maybe it was the thick night air, or the way we moved together to the slow waltz of a broken-hearted band, or the way she looked at me, the way she felt, so soft and so close, that made me lose focus. Just this once, I wanted to be able to feel something without thinking it through. Just this once, I wanted to feel something more than ice inside me.

Alana was heating me up, one beautiful smile at a time.

We danced for three songs until she rested her forehead against my chest and seemed to doze off for a minute.

“Okay,” I whispered into her ear. “Time for bed. Let’s go.”

I thought that would get a reaction out of her but she pulled away and nodded, her eyes still shut. I couldn’t help but grin at her, glad I could do so without her noticing.

I paid for dinner and got us in a cab. It didn’t feel right sending her off to her own place. She was drunk and vulnerable and I wanted her in my sight for the night.