“Start talking.” There wasn’t a sliver of tolerance in his voice.
She glanced around the dingy room. There were no chairs to be seen, and she couldn’t imagine them snuggling on the bed while she told him about her quest for Daddy dearest.
“Can we go somewhere else? This room gives me the creeps. Besides, I’m hungry.” When stressed, food comforted her, and she really was starving. Her last meal had been lunch the day before.
Jake gestured at the tote and plastic bag on the dresser. “Is this it?”
She nodded.
He picked them up along with her keys, wrapped his hand around her elbow, and escorted her out the door. “Where’s your car?”
“Sally’s over there behind the dumpster.”
“Why doesn’t it surprise me you named your car?” His lips thinned as he took in how she’d tried to hide the Mustang behind the dumpster. “Just how deep have you stepped in it, Maria?”
“I don’t know.” At his raised brow, she admitted to what she feared. “Maybe up to my eyeballs, I just don’t know.”
His gaze swept across the parking lot. “I don’t see anyone suspicious lurking about. We’ll leave your car here for now, at least until I know what I’m dealing with.” He prodded her toward his Challenger.
Maria glanced over her shoulder at her beloved Mustang and sent up a little prayer that no one would steal it.
Expecting a grilling as soon as the doors closed, she found Jake’s silence unnerving as he drove away from the motel. Tension rolled off him in waves. The all-night diner he pulled up to was only a few streets over from the motel. How he knew it was there was anyone’s guess. But then, he always seemed to know things others didn’t. When she started to open her door, he put his hand on her arm.
“Wait.” He stared into the rearview mirror for a minute. “Seems safe enough. Don’t get out until I’m at your side.”
Yes, safe. Jake would make certain of it. Maybe she should have tried to handle this herself, but at least she could admit she was out of her element. There were things she was good at, but creeping into dark basements the way women did in scary movies wasn’t one of them. She didn’t know how to investigate this on her own.
Maria dreaded having to explain why she had asked him to come. Poor little girl, looking for a daddy who’d obviously never tried to find her—although to give him credit, he probably didn’t know she existed. With all her being, she hoped Fortunada wasn’t him. Either way, he’d stolen her fantasy that all she had to do was announce herself and her father would welcome her with open arms, and most important, he’d be nothing like Lovey Dovey.
Positioning himself behind her, Jake followed Maria into the diner. The place was empty except for one man in a business suit at the counter. Jake led them to a table away from the window and sat facing the door. She slid into the booth across from him.
The waitress sauntered over, slapped a food-stained menu down, and poured two cups of coffee before turning her attention to Jake.
“Morning, honey, what can I get ya?”
He glanced at the woman’s name tag. “Surprise me, Terri.”
“If only. As for breakfast, big boy like you, you look like a steak and eggs kind of man.”
“How ’bout that? We’ve only just met and already you know me so well.” He flashed a grin that would have curled Maria’s toes if he’d meant it for her.
A dreamy smile appeared on Terri’s face.
Maria rolled her eyes. “I’d like a chili dog, loaded. Fries and a chocolate shake.”
The waitress tore her gaze away from Jake. “For breakfast?” Before Maria could answer, Terri’s eyes narrowed. “He do that to your face?”
Maria put her hand over the bruise. She shook her head. “No. No, it wasn’t him. I was . . . I was in a car accident.”
Terri’s obvious relief that the handsome devil sitting in her diner wasn’t a woman beater was almost funny. Or it would have been if Maria had been up to laughing. She didn’t blame Terri for eyeing him like he was a piece of candy she wanted to devour. He was a handsome, hazel-eyed devil. The only thing marring his face was a shrap-metal scar along his right cheek near his ear. She’d always thought it gave him character, that without it he would be too perfect.
“I see your ordeal, whatever it is, hasn’t affected your appetite,” he said after Terri left.
“You know I eat junk food when I’m upset.”