"Don't go to the wedding," Nico suddenly blurted. "I don't want you in Florida. Too risky." In Boston she was over a thousand miles away, and that still made him uneasy.
She blinked in confusion and released his cock. He missed her heat right away. "I'm one of the bridesmaids. I have to go. I want to go."
"Make something up," he insisted. "A family crisis. The Spanish flu. Whatever you want, but you are not going to Florida."
Paige looked at him and barked out a laugh. "Dream on. Man, give a guy a blowjob, and it goes straight to his head. Both his heads. Don't kid yourself. This isn't a real relationship. Can you offer me one?"
He stilled, caught by surprise. "Would you want a relationship with me?"
"I don't know. Maybe. The point here is, can you offer me more than secret dates and hot sex?"
He remained silent. Lowered his gaze. No matter how badly he wanted to offer the world to her or believe there was a future for them, he'd just be kidding himself. And her. He couldn't lie to her. Couldn't give her false hope. He didn't expect to survive this mission. Anything resembling normalcy was out of the question.
"No, you can't," she continued, "so this is where the liberties end, Escobar-in the bedroom. Get used to it. Now shut up and enjoy your blowjob before I change my mind."
Chapter Nine
"This is the life," Elle said, lying on a lounge chair by the pool at the Eternal Sun Resort.
"Yep," Tate assented, taking a sip from her margarita. "Whenever I retire, I'm coming down here to live."
"Disney World for old people" was what Violet, one of the residents and Elle's friend, had called it. Paige totally agreed. She'd been there for a couple of days with the Bowen clan, and she was already smitten with the place and the locals.
"Me too," Christy, Cole Bowen's wife, chimed in, her hands on her baby bump.
"Can you imagine Cole living here?" Annie asked, applying sunscreen to her face. "He would put an end to half the fun, demanding changes to make the activities safer."
Christy laughed. "True. Yesterday he was shaking his head at the lack of security measures during the coconut palm climbing. Please, the guys they hire to do that are all but naked. I doubt wearing a helmet would help. He disagreed. He suggested genital protectors too. What's the fun in that?"
The girls melted into giggles. They were all smearing sunscreen on themselves like crazy. All except Elle, who was already as tan as humanly possible and in no danger of frying. Paige was hiding under a sun umbrella. Burning oneself into a crisp wasn't a good look for a Goth. Not to mention it was frigging hot. Taking a dip in the swimming pool was out of the question, especially if she wanted to preserve her platinum hair color and not make it to the wedding with a green head.
"I can't imagine Jack living here when we get old and wrinkled." Elle pondered for a second. "Although in all honesty, I didn't imagine getting married here, either."
"How did you convince him?" Christy asked.
"Actually, I didn't. He knew I wanted something familiar, not in a church or a place where I had no emotional connection. The options were limited to my childhood home or here. Jack said here."
Paige had been at Elle's place several times. She seemed … contrived there. Uneasy. With Jack around, things had started to change, but she wasn't totally relaxed. Neither was her mom. That was probably why Jack had opted for the Eternal Sun.
"But … the cartel is here too," Annie said, hushed. "Isn't it?"
Paige tensed. Elle just shrugged. "Maldonado is gone. There's a new kingpin. I'm no longer on their agenda. Besides, Miami is huge. I doubt the head of a drug cartel would have any reason to shadow a wedding in a senior community, right?"
Paige lowered her gaze, guilt rearing its ugly head. Nico knew they were there. Not that he and Paige would meet-Nico was out of town-but still. Paige felt like a traitor keeping silent.
"I might be paranoid, but don't you have the odd feeling that we're being watched?" Tate asked. "I think Jack has a detail on us."
And the guilty feeling skyrocketed.
Annie snorted. "I wouldn't know. I always feel watched. And I always am. Max is a magnet for attention."
"By the way, where are Max and the others?" Paige asked. The Bowens were never too far away from their wives. And this line of questioning was making her feel like more than a traitor.
"Playing golf. Jack too," Elle answered.
Paige choked on her margarita. Jack riding one of those carts and working on his golf swing? Nuh-uh.
"That's right," Annie confirmed, stretching luxuriously. "All the groomsmen, playing golf."