Page 36 of Her Reluctant Hero
When she stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in the plush robe the hotel provided, Alex was stretched out on her king-sized bed, propped against the headboard, watching baseball with his bare feet on the mattress, holding a beer from the minifridge.
“My hero,” she murmured, and he smirked.
So what had all that bluster in the jungle been about? Did the situation then have him scared, stressed, what? Or did he just think he was going to get some tonight?
Her body wouldn’t mind. Her blood hummed even ten feet away from him. Alone in a room, all the privacy they could ask for. But her brain wouldn’t settle down.
“Alex.” She sat on the edge of the bed, making sure she left a safe distance from him. “If Hector isn’t with Santiago’s cousin, where could he be? Where do we look next?”
Alex muted the TV and sat up, serious now.
“What made you think Hector was there?” he asked.
“Santiago said he sent him to his cousin’s.”
“You believed him.”
She drew back. “He was taking my son from me, sending him to a place I had no dream of being able to get to. Why wouldn’t I believe him?”
Some of the tension drained from him. “How did you find the address?”
“I paid for the information. I was so sure.” Despair pushed her voice out in a wail.
“Okay, okay, calm down.” He held out his hands. “I can look into it, see what kind of connections he has in the States. You gave the DEA a list of names, the people who’d left the compound. We can follow any leads from that.”
Everything collapsed inside her. “How long will that take?” She could barely force the words out.
“I can’t promise it will be overnight, but we won’t stop till we find him.”
She looked at him with tears in her eyes. “Why would you do this for me? This isn’t your job.”
She watched him draw back into himself. There was more to this than he was letting on. She’d been right to hold back those rescue fantasies.
“Why did you show up at the club? Why are you following me?”
“We need Saldana.”
She’d thought she couldn’t drop farther. He was here because of Santiago. She’d been so glad to see him, so glad to touch him, to lean on him, and he was here to use her.
Well, she’d use him as well. He would find her son for her.
“Make the calls,” she said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get my son back.” She knew the price he’d ask. It wouldn’t be a hardship.
“I’ll call. But first.” He leaned over her, bracing his arms on either side of her hips. “I’m going to use your shower.” He straightened and headed for the bathroom.
Her heart took a long time to stop pounding.
Alex felt more human as he walked out of the bathroom in his skivvies. He’d taken care of the arousal that plagued him every moment he was with her.
There she was, curled up in bed reading a romance novel with a castle and a knight on the cover, for God’s sake, and she had kittens on her pajamas. Kittens and rainbows.
Pajamas.
Kittens.
Rainbows.
What the hell? Where was the seductress? He needed the seductress, needed the shield. He didn’t know what to do with this innocent girl.
